rl\ 


mn 


WHARTON  J.  GREEN 


library  of 
(Efye  University  of  Xlovtif  Carolina 


COLLECTION     OF 

NORTH    CAROLINIAN  A 


ENDOWED      B Y 

JOHN     SPRUNT     HILL 
of  the  class  of  1889 


^Gx:^^ 


*8Sffig«s» 

|300K?,f»STATfSHps; 

I2Ui">  123  FAYETTEVILLE  STREET 

t  Raleigh,  N.  c.  ": 


UNIVERSITY  OF  N.C.  AT  CHAPEL  HILL 


00031717152 

FOR  USE  ONLY  IN 
THE  NORTH  CAROLINA  COLLECTION 


if 

r 


Form  No.  A-368,  Rev.  8/95 


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in  2012  with  funding  from 

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Recollections  and  Reflections, 


: 


6a  sr  o  w?/,  ■_.-  ~  -  3  St-o  jyyr 


RECOLLECTIONS 

AND 

REFLECTIONS 


AN  AUTO  OF    HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE 


BY 

WHARTON  J.  GREEN 


presses  of 

Edwards  and  Broughton  Printing  Company 

1906 


DEDICATION. 

To  God's  noblest  handiwork  and  true  men's  highest  concep- 
tion of  ideal  perfection,  a  good,  well-balanced  woman,  true  in 
all  the  relationships  of  home  and  domestic  life,  and  as  little 
deficient  in  social  intercourse  with  the  outside  world  beyond, 
pious  without  pretension,  erudite  without  pedantry,  charitable 
without  parade,  soft  of  speech  but  duly  assertive,  stickler  for 
the  social  proprieties  but  void  of  prudery,  ever  genial  but 
never  frivolous ; — such  is  an  imperfect  pen-portraiture  of  a 
few  of  the  amiable  and  lovable  traits  of  one  seen  in  my  mind's 
eye  and  the  one  best  known  in  actual  life.  It  is  my  blessed 
privilege  to  have  undisputed  ownership  to  such  a  priceless 
treasure.  Yes !  to  thee,  Adeline,  wife  of  my  bosom  and 
solace  of  declining  age,  at  this  the  terminal  period  of  "the 
fitful  dream,"  I  pledge  renewed  troth,  and  say,  as  Ferdinand 
said  to  Prospero's  daughter  in  the  incipiency  of  new-born 
love, — 

*        *        *        *        for  several  virtues 

Have  I  liked  several  women;  never  any 

With  so  full  soul,  but  some  defect  in  her 

Did  quarrel  with  the  noblest  grace  she  owed, 

And  put  it  to  the  foil:  But  you,  O  you, 

So  perfect,  and  so  peerless,  are  created 

Of  every  creature's  best. 

To  thee,  dear  wife,  is  dedicated  this,  my  initial  and,  most 
probably,  ultimate  book. 


[5] 


PREFACE. 

On  this,  the  initial  day  of  a  new-born  century,  I  begin  a 
work  long  held  in  contemplation,  namely,  the  compilation  of 
the  Memoirs  of  a  somewhat  eventful  life  of  a  commonplace 
sort,  covering  the  greater  part  of  the  century  just  ended ;  his- 
torically speaking,  the  most  eventful  of  all  the  centuries. 
Probably,  no  epoch  of  like  duration  is  more  replete  with 
books  of  a  reminiscent  character. 

To  avoid  the  suspicion  of  presumption  in  venturing  to 
launch  a  new  book  of  a  similar  sort  upon  an  already  over- 
booked era,  be  it  known  from  the  start,  that  the  self-imposed 
task  is  not  essayed  for  futurity,  finance,  or  ephemeral  fame. 
Hence,  neither  maelstrom,  nor  iceberg,  nor  hidden  shoal,  holds 
out  terrors  for  my  puny  venture.  True,  it  is  intended  for 
posterity,  but  posterity  in  a  very  restricted  sense — my  own  and 
that  of  kindred,  and  of  a  few  tried  friends,  who  have  urged 
the  undertaking.  If  some  of  these  may,  perchance,  find  a 
kernel  of  profit  out  of  the  mass  of  chaff  attendant,  my  idle 
half-hours  in  the  postmeridian  of  life  will  not  have  been 
entirely  misspent. 

Apropos  of  books  of  a  reminiscent  character,  it  is  a  crude 
opinion  of  mine  that  only  two  classes  are  entitled  to  write 
them,  namely,  those  who  have  made  history  themselves,  or 
those  who  have  been  brought  in  close  contact  and  acquaint- 
ance with  the  class  who  have.  Of  right  to  write  by  rule  pre- 
scribed, I  make  no  claim,  and  abjure  all  pretension  on  basis 
number  one.  On  that  of  number  two,  I  think  I  may,  with- 
out incurring  the  suspicion  of  vanity  or  arrogance,  jot  down 
some  few  of  many  reminiscences  connected  with  illustrious 
personages,  for  it  was  my  proud  privilege  to  be  brought  in 
close  touch  with  many  of  them. 

[7] 


PREFACE. 

Conspicuous  amongst  these,  in  boyhood  and  maturer  age, 
was  a  quartet,  or  rather  quintet,  of  world-recognized  gentle- 
men and  historical  heroes.  I  knew  and  honored  and  loved 
them,  each  and  all,  and  thank  the  Master  that  it  was  my 
blessed  prerogative  to  have  been  born  of  their  tribe  and  racial 
line  of  thought.  By  name,  they  are  known  as  John  C.  Cal- 
houn, Andrew  Jackson,  Jefferson  Davis,  Albert  Sidney  John- 
ston, and  Wade  Hampton.  Others  there  were,  fitting  com- 
peers of  even  such  as  these;  but,  as  I  am  essaying  memoir 
only, — not  history, — they  are  not  mentioned  by  nomenclature. 
The  Muse  of  History  will,  doubtless,  align  with  the  others 
Robert  E.  Lee,  Thomas  J.  Jackson,  and  Nathan  B.  Forrest, 
only  the  first-named  of  whom  was  known  to  me  personally, 
and  but  slightly;  the  last  so  casually  as  not  to  justify  the 
claim  of  acquaintance  on  my  part,  and  the  second,  not  at  all. 
Hence  this  reticence.  Booked  they  all  are  for  highest  niches 
in  "Walhalla." 

In  discussing  this  batch  of  "  preux-chevaliers,"  and  others 
of  kindred  soul  but  less  resplendent  lustre,  as  well  as  others 
still,  who  can  set  up  no  claim  to  kinship  with  such  immacu- 
lates  as  these,  it  is  proposed  to  do  so  fairly  and  dispassionately, 
but  with  no  mawkish  observance  of  the  classic  adage — "  De 
mortuis  nil,  nisi  bonum."  If  allusion  is  made  to  such  as 
Nero,  Caligula,  Commodus,  or  Domitian,  in  an  earlier  age ; 
or  to  Alva,  Jeffreys,  or  the  Guises,  in  more  recent  times, 
chance  position  of  the  culprit  will  not  restrain  anathema,  or 
rather,  harsh  criticism.  Silence  is  sometimes  culpable. 
"The  rank  is  but  the  guinea's  stamp;  a  spade's  a  spade,  for 
all  that."  Some  have  deemed  me  aforetime  too  plain  of 
speech,  in  not  calling  that  useful  implement  by  a  more  euphe- 
mistic synonym.  To  such,  the  reply  is  that  having  used  un- 
varnished old  English  up  to  the  allotted  span  of  man,  it  is 
now  too  late  to  acquire  a  modulated  and  more  euphonic  dia- 
lect in  dealing  with  knaves,  shams,  and  pretenders. 

[8] 


PEEFACE. 

If  there  is  any  merit  in  my  desultory  writings,  having 
been  a  scribbler  off  and  on  through  life,  it  consists  in  thor- 
ough conviction  and  pointedness  of  expression.  Those  who 
object  to  that  style  might  as  well  close  the  little  volume. 
Rosewater  and  diluted  catnip  is  repugnant  to  taste,  and  un- 
suited  to  my  genius.  The  field  is  already  overcrowded  with 
that  sort,  men  who  shun  a  positive,  unequivocal  expression  of 
opinion  on  men,  measures,  and  policies,  as  they  would  a  bolt 
from  a  catapult. 

January  1,  1900. 


[9] 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 

Birth,  Genealogy,  and  Earliest  Childhood  Days — Loss  of  Mother 
When  Four  Years  Old — Transference  to  Home  of  My  Uncle 
Joseph  P.  Wharton,  near  Lebanon,  Tenn. — Early  Terrors:  Ped- 
agogues,  Pinafores,  and  Apparitions    1 

CHAPTER  II. 

Proclivity  for  Field  Sports — How  I  Came  Into  Possession  of  My 
Cousin  Bob's  Hounds  Later  On — Measles  and  the  Tender  Pas- 
sion: First  Attack  of  Each — Meeting  with  My  Father,  After  a 
Ten  Years  Separation  21 

CHAPTER  III. 

Visit  to  the  Sage  of  the  Hermitage:  His  Impressibility — Subsequent 
Visit  to  the  Same  Spot  with  His  Adopted  Niece,  Mrs.  Mary 
Donelson   Wilcox    24 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Sketch  of  My  Father,  Thomas  J.  Greene,  from  the  N.  C.  University 
Magazine,  1892 — His  Early  Political  Bias  and  Predilection — 
His  Subsequent  Romantic  History — Author  of  the  Bill  in  the 
Texan  Congress,  Making  the  Rio  Grande  the  Boundary  Line 
Between  Texas  and  Mexico,  which  Resulted  in  the  War  with 
Mexico  and  the  Acquisition  of  Texas  and  Boundless  Territory 
Further  West — Journey  from  Nashville  to  Washington — Re- 
marriage of  My  Father — Dr.  Branch  T.  Archer,  Father  of  the 
Texan  Revolution,  a  Remarkable  Man   30 

CHAPTER  V. 

In  Louisville — Division  of  the  Methodist  Church  and  Sectional  Di- 
vergence—In Washington,  the  Straggling  Village — Visit  to 
Paternal  Grandmother — Return  to  Washington — Dr.  Branch  T. 
Arthur,  the  Instigator  of  the  Texan  Revolt  Against  Mexican 
Tyranny — John  C.  Calhoun  and  Jefferson  Davis   45 

CHAPTER  VI. 

In   Georgetown   College — Contempt   of   Academic   Laurels — How   to 

Succeed :    Crawl,  Creep,   Cringe    54 

[11] 


TABLE    OF   CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

PAGE 
My  Father's  Second  Wife — The  Little  Girl  who  Became  My  Wife: 
Her   Training   and   Disposition;    Her   Love   and   Loyalty;    her 
Death    , 59 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

In  Lovejoy's  School — Transferred  to  Boston — An  Inspiring  Teacher 
— Admitted  to  West  Point;  Class  of  1850;  Distinguished  Class- 
mates— War  Reminiscences — West  Point  Instructors — Colonel 
Lee  a  Peacemaker — Social  Life 63 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Resignation  from  the  Academy — Sheridan  and  Schofield — At  the 
White  Sulphur  Springs — Duelling  Pistols  and  the  Duello — A 
Trip  to  Kentucky  and  a  Bit  of  Romance — At  the  University  of 
Virginia — Some  Professors — Literary  Society  Experiences — The 
Fateful  Numeral  One   92 

CHAPTER  X. 

Admitted  to  Practice  Law  Before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States — From  Washington  to  Texas — Rattlesnakes,  "Northers," 
and  Hospitality  —  San  Antonio  —  Desperadoes  —  Distinguished 
Soldiers    109 

CHAPTER  XL 

Albert  Sydney  Johnston,   an   Excerpt  from   the  Biography  by  His 

Son,  Col.  William  Preston  Johnston 124 

CHAPTER  XII. 

"Bigfoot  Wallace" — Anecdote  of  Bedford  Forrest — A  Hunting  Ex- 
cursion       129 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Marriage  and  Bridal  Tour — In  the  Land  of  the  Pharoahs — European 
Travel — Home  Again — War — Military  Experiences — My  Body- 
servant  Guilford    140 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

The  Fortunes  of  War— The  Epoch  of  Self-sacrifice — Wounded— With 
the  Invading  Army — Wounded  and  a  Prisoner  of  War — Life  on 
Johnson's  Island 164 

[12] 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XV. 

PAGE 
Exchanged — The  South  is  Vanquished — In  Politics — Elected  to  Con- 
gress— Some  Reminiscences   194 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

A  Trip  to  the  Pacific  Coast — Home  Again — Closing  Reflections 204 

APPENDIX. 

Letter  from  Jefferson  Davis — Letters  to  the  Boston  Herald,  Written 
at  Venice,  Naples,  Rome,  and  Thebes — The  Second  N.  C.  Bat- 
talion— Address  on  General  Robert  Ransom — West  Point  Then 
and  West  Point  Now — A  Paper  on  Jefferson  Davis — Address 
Before  the  J.  E.  B.  Stuart  Chapter,  U.  D.  C— Gettysburg- 
Memorial  Address  in  Honor  of  Mrs.  Davis — Speech  in  the  House 
of  Representatives  on  the  Adulteration  of  Food  and  Drugs.  .  .  .   223 


[13] 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

W.  J.  Gbeen  Frontispiece 

"Sugar  Tree  Grove" 16 

General  Thos.  J.  Green 30 

"Esmaralda"    42 

"Jamacia  Plains"   58 

General  Albert  Sydney  Johnston 124 

"Tokay"  Vineyard  196 

General  Wade  Hampton  200 

Jefferson  Davis 224 


[14] 


CHAPTER  I. 

BIRTH,  GENEALOGY,  AND  EAELY  CHILDHOOD. 

While  making  no  claim  to  merit  on  the  line  genealogic,  still 
I  am  not  debarred,  by  excessive  modesty,  from  saying  that  my 
forbears  are  of  good,  honorable,  and  unblemished  record,  run- 
ning back  more  than  a  century  in  this  country  and  embracing 
six  or  eight  generations  of  "traceable  grandfathers,"  both  on 
the  paternal  and  maternal  side  of  the  house.  Many  of  them 
were  of  marked  name,  trait,  and  characteristic,  and  none  ever 
false  to  himself,  his  blood,  or  his  manhood,  as  far  as  my  re- 
searches go.  The  fountain  source  of  migration  was,  in  every 
instance,  "English,  pure  and  undefiled,"  for  which  Heaven 
be  praised.  There  was  not  a  Tory  in  the  stock  in  the  Revo- 
lutionary War,  nor  a  traitor  or  renegade  to  the  South  in  the 
"War  between  the  States" ;  very  few  of  these  last  since  then. 
All  branches  flowed  from  Virginia  and  North  Carolina  into 
Tennessee,  where  concentration  set  in,  towards  the  close  of 
the  eighteenth  century.  As  a  rule,  they  were  ever  planters 
and  tillers  of  the  soil,  although  some  few  sided  off  into  pro- 
fessional and  mechanical  pursuits.  Such  is  a  simple  and  suc- 
cinct statement  of  family  history.  It  is  one  of  which  no 
scion  of  any  house  in  this  broad  land  could  be  ashamed.  Let 
him,  who  can  match  it,  say  "Laus  Deo !"  in  all  fervor. 

My  father,  Thomas  J.  Green,  of  Warren  County,  North 
Carolina,  afterwards  General  Green  of  Texan  Revolutionary 
fame,  married  my  mother,  Sarah  A.  Wharton,  of  Nashville, 
Tennessee,  on  January  8,  1830.  She  was  the  daughter  of 
Honorable  Jesse  Wharton,  at  one  time  United  States  Senator 
in  Congress.  They  moved  to  his  plantation,  near  St.  Mark's, 
Florida,  where  I  was  born  on  February  28,  1831.  By  death 
I  sustained  the  irretrievable  loss  of  this  last  dear  parent  on 

[15] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

March  11,  1835,  being  thus  deprived  of  her  ministering  care 
at  the  early  age  of  four  years.  She  had  met  with  the  same 
great  affliction  when  barely  one  year  old.  She  was  only 
twenty-three,  and  her  mother  twenty-six,  at  the  time  of  death. 
The  thought  that  oft  recurred — would  I  not  have  been  a  bet- 
ter man  had  her  life  been  spared  a  few  years  longer?  ]STot 
that  I  have  any  right  or  cause  to  complain  of  the  dear  hands 
that  received  me.  On  the  contrary,  never  did  motherless 
waif  pass  into  gentler  and  more  considerate  keeping.  A  few 
lines  descriptive  of  this  peculiarly  interesting  couple  (my 
uncle,  Joe  Wharton,  and  his  wife,  Caroline)  will  not  be  out 
of  place.  They  had  married  about  the  time  that  my  parents 
did,  and  had  the  incipiency  of  a  young  family,  which  later 
on  increased  to  large  proportions.  Two  of  their  sons,  and  a 
son-in-law,  died  fighting  for  liberty,  and  the  regret  of  both 
was  that  they  could  not  duplicate  their  tender  to  the  Cause. 
They  took  me  into  their  house  as  if  I  had  been  one  of  their 
little  fold,  and  for  the  nine  or  ten  years  succeeding  accorded 
precisely  the  same.  May  their  souls  rest  in  peace,  and  their 
reward  be  commensurate  to  their  unpretentious  good  works. 
Fortunately,  they  were  well  to  do.  A  thousand  broad  acres 
of  as  inviting  land  as  Middle  Tennessee  contains  was  their 
abiding-place,  with  forty  or  fifty  sleek,  overfed,  contented 
negroes  to  cultivate  them.  The  recollection  of  that  home  and 
the  blessed  spirit  pervading  it  is  a  veritable  dream  of  Arcadia. 
Every  thing  used  on  the  place  was  raised  or  made  on  the 
place,  except  sugar,  coffee,  powder  and  lead,  and  a  few 
woman's  fixings.  The  men-folk  dressed  in  homespun,  and 
were  well  content  to  get  it.  With  no  attempt  at  ostentation 
or  display,  they  were  nevertheless  the  most  bountiful  livers 
for  their  means,  and  in  their  simple  way,  that  I  have  ever 
known.  Hospitality  was  a  synonym  for  home,  the  latch- 
string  being  ever  on  the  outside  of  the  door.  In  those  blessed 
days,  there  were  but  few  things  to  cause  pain  or  occasion 

[16] 


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AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOEE. 

trouble.  Primarily  of  these  were,  by  alliteration,  peda- 
gogues, pinafores,  and  apparitions.  Especially  was  the  peda- 
gogue my  pet  abomination,  being  almost  ever  of  the  genus 
ignoramic,  tyrannic,  or  pompostic,  individually,  or  in  combi- 
nation. Being  a  tyrant  hater  by  nature  as  well  as  by  inheri- 
tance, one  of  my  grandfathers  having  been  of  that  honorable 
Commission  of  Forty  (afterwards  known  as  "Regicides") 
that  cut  off  the  head  of  one  Charles  Stuart,  about  the  last  of 
that  crown-wearing  tribe  of  tyrants  in  England.  God  be 
praised  both  the  sceptre-bearing  and  rod-wielding  specimens 
of  the  vile  tribe  are  fast  becoming  extinct.  Tyranny  has  had 
its  day! 

Dionysius,  the  historic  tyrant,  is  dead;  and  so  is  his  peda- 
gogic successor,  Dionysius,  the  terror  of  schoolboys.  I  write 
feelingly  in  behalf  of  the  boy  to  be,  having  been  a  boy  myself, 
under  that  merciless  regime.  They  all  seemed  to  have  a 
special  hate  against  me,  and,  to  be  candid,  there  was  little 
love  lost  between  us,  as  certified  by  old  smarts  and  long- 
dormant  grudge  for  having  received  them  for  nothing.  Un- 
fortunately, the  other  fellow  had  'whip  hand,'  and  'hinc  lach- 
rymae.'  But  there  was  one  day  when  the  boys  would  get  the 
upper  hand  of  the  dominie,  and  that  was  "turning-out"  day 
of  blessed  memory.  (See  Judge  Longstreet's  description  in 
"Georgia  Scenes.") 

My  father  left  a  young  negro  woman,  Lucinda  by  name, 
to  wait  on  me  in  my  juvenile  years.  She  had  been  my 
nurse,  and  was  devoted  to  me,  but,  unfortunately,  her  head 
was  full  of  African  'folk-lore'  and  superstitions,  in  which  the 
horrible  predominated,  all  of  which  naturally  passed  into  my 
own  cranium.  Being  of  a  credulous  and  impressive  tem- 
perament, they  made  a  most  baleful  and  baneful  impress  on 
the  imagination  until  nine  or  ten  years  of  age,  especially  when 
having  to  sleep  in  a  room  by  myself.  Many  a  night  in  mid- 
summer have  I  slept  with  head  under  blankets  to  shut  out  a 
2  [17] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

devil's  'high  carnival'  in  dread  apprehension.  It  is  easy  to 
look  back  and  smile  at  these  fancies  and  conjurations  of  juve- 
nile years,  but  at  the  time  it  was  no  laughing  matter,  but 
veritable  purgatorial  torture.  I  sincerely  trust  that  few  boys 
or  girls  have  ever  suffered  a  tithe  as  much  in  those  tender 
years.  To  make  the  hallucination  utterly  inexplicable  in  my 
case,  it  was  notorious  that  I  could  "lick"  any  boy  in  school 
though  my  superior  by  long  odds  in  pounds,  inches,  and  age. 
This,  perhaps,  was  at  times  needlessly  done  to  convince  my- 
self that  I  was  not  a  coward  for  standing  in  such  mortal  terror 
of  the  devil  and  his  imps,  and  rawhides  and  bloody  bones. 
More  singular  still,  I  didn't  believe  in  that  absurd  phantas- 
magoria any  more  then  than  to-day.  This  is  the  honest  expe- 
rience of  a  lad  who  was,  and  admits  he  was,  afraid  of  ghosts 
and  goblins,  and  yet  did  not  believe  in  their  existence.  What 
a  strange  anomaly  the  mind  is  any  way. 

]STow  for  the  third,  and  last,  misery  of  my  boyhood  life  at 
that  early  stage, — 'pinafores.'  At  the  time  of  beginning  life 
in  this  rustic  paradise,  there  was  left  an  elaborate  supply  of 
juvenile  toggery,  appropriate  to  a  picnic  or  a  Sunday-school, 
but  entirely  out  of  place  in  a  day-school  for  country  children. 
This  I  realized  very  early,  and  importuned  raiment  befitting 
surroundings.  My  aunt,  however,  being  of  a  frugal  mind, 
thought  it  expedient  that  they  should  be  worn  before  outgrown. 
As  they  invariably  exhibited  a  soiled  and  battered  show-up 
after  school  was  out,  she  concluded  to  add  checked  aprons  to 
the  'get-up,'  as  a  sort  of  armor-protector.  An  extra  fight  or 
two  for  days  succeeding,  for  the  twit  of  being  'a  gal,'  led  to 
the  conclusion,  on  my  part,  that  this  addendum  in  raiment 
was  not  suited  to  my  'style  of  beauty.'  And  so  they  disap- 
peared, to  be  substituted  by  a  'dressing'  of  another  sort  on 
reaching  home.  My  aunt,  though  later  on  a  'rebel,'  so-called, 
herself,  was  not  prone  to  tolerate  rebellion  to  established  au- 
thority in  her  little  domain.     And  so  the  contest  continued 

[18] 


AjST  auto  of  half  a  century  and  moke. 

between  us,  day  after  day,  until  the  supply  of  the  obnoxious 
things  was  exhausted,  or  else  the  dear  good  soul's  patience 
and  powers  of  endurance.  It  seems  to  me,  after  these  long 
years,  that  she  tacitly  called  a  truce.  Certes,  there  was  no 
'Appomattox'  for  me  in  that  momentous  struggle  for  the 
'Rights  of  Man.' 

It  was  a  miniature  prelude  to  another  struggle  soon  to 
follow  on  a  far  more  extended  scale.  I  know  that  my  aunt 
thought  she  was  right  in  this  needless  assertion  of  prerogative, 
for  she  never  did  a  thing  in  her  blessed  life  that  wouldn't 
stand  that  primary  test.  Perhaps,  too,  Bill  Seward  and  his 
puppets  thought  the  same  in  their  sublime  assertion  of  pre- 
rogative. And  yet,  is  it  not  barely  possible  that  each  might 
have  been  slightly  out  of  reckoning  ?  I  could  not  help  think- 
ing then,  and  still  maintain,  that  it  is  a  desecration  to  try  to 
turn  a  boy  into  a  girl  or  a  dude.  JSTot  that  girls  are  not  an 
essential  factor  in  the  world's  economy  and  make-up ;  but 
still,  no  true  boy  wants  to  be  one,  much  less  that  nondescript 
other  thing.  Let  it  be  said,  that  those  are  the  only  whippings 
this  my  second  mother  ever  gave  me,  with  the  exception  of  an 
occasional  one  for  a  Sunday  fishing  escapade.  Uncle  Joe 
never  struck  me  a  lick  in  his  life,  that  comes  to  recollection, 
probably  thinking  I  got  my  full  complement  at  school.  Be  it 
said,  that  whilst  pedagogic  brutality  was  sometimes  met  by 
puny  and  impotent  resistance,  I  always  took  my  Aunt  Caro- 
line's corrections  like  a  little  man. 

And  so  the  period  of  first  boyhood  passed  by,  and  the  tenth 
year  beginning,  say,  the  secondary  period  came  on.  By  that 
time  I  was  a  strong,  robust,  double- jointed  specimen  of 
juvenile  humanity.  Am  glad  to  say  my  constitution,  by  that 
time  grounded,  was  strengthened  by  the  next  four  or  five 
years  of  active  outdoor  exercise,  riding,  hunting,  fishing,  etc. 
My  health  has  always  been  exceptionally  good,  up  to  the  near 


[19] 


EECOLLECTIONS  AND  BEFLECTIONS. 

approach  of  the  Biblical  limit  of  the  years  of  man's  pilgrim- 
age. At  least,  it  was  so  until  this  vile  imported  foreign  dis- 
ease, called  'La  Grippe,'  put  in  an  appearance  a  year  or  so 
ago.  That  has  not  only  impaired  physical  stamina,  but  worse 
by  far,  changed  a  disposition  naturally  gentle,  forbearing, 
and  amiable,  into  the  morose  and  melancholic  order.  Never 
thought  it  would  please  me.  The  orthography  is  too  Frenchy 
for  the  ear  of  an  Englishman. 


' 


[20  J 


CHAPTER  II. 

The  second  stage  of  these  puerilities  naturally  calls  for  a 
new  chapter. 

My  Uncle  Joe  was  an  inborn  sportsman,  one  of  the  finest 
shots,  both  with  the  rifle  and  shotgun,  that  I  have  ever  known. 
In  due  time  these  were  permitted  me  to  use,  glorious  privi- 
lege that  it  was.  He  was  the  owner  likewise  of  one  of  the 
finest  packs  of  hounds  in  Tennessee,  and  one  of  the  highest 
delights  in  life  was  to  follow  them  in  his  company.  Those 
dogs  in  after  years  became  my  sole  and  exclusive  property  by 
deed  of  gift  from  his  son  Bob,  who  was  not  averse  to  becoming 
the  son-in-law  of  one  of  the  largest  sheep  raisers  in  the  coun- 
try, who  naturally  had  a  repugnance  to  the  whole  canine  fam- 
ily, both  of  high  and  low  degree.  Alas !  poor  Bob,  after  sacri- 
ficing his  pets  to  propitiate  the  father,  failed  to  win  the  con- 
sent of  the  daughter,  thus  losing  "Tray,  Blanche,  Sweetheart, 
and  all."  Cousin  Robert  had  my  heartfelt  sympathy,  especi- 
ally for  the  loss  of  'Sweetheart/  but  when  he  asked  for  a 
cancellation  of  the  aforesaid  deed,  I  couldn't  see  it.  Poor 
Bob,  it  is  too  mean  to  spring  the  story  on  you  at  this  late  day, 
but  it  was  too  good  to  keep  all  to  myself.  Still,  in  this  sad, 
sad  tale  may  be  seen  confirmation  of  the  old  saw — "Patient 
waiters  are  no  losers."  Though  Robert  never  fed  his  father's 
flocks  on  the  Grampian  Hills,  he,  nevertheless,  married  one 
of  the  finest  and  finest-looking  women  in  all  those  parts,  and 
can  count  a  round  baker's  dozen  of  boys  and  girls  around  him, 
whom  he  and  his  good  wife  can  call  their  own. 

Up  to  that  date  I  had  escaped  juvenile  ailments,  including 
the  tender  passion  and  the  measles.  Exemption  from  the 
first  was  probably  due  to  native  bashf illness  and  dread  of 
'strange  creatures.'  Next  to  a  lean,  lanky,  bonified  ghost, 
nothing  was  so  terrible  as  a  fat,  laughing,  romping,   rosy- 

[21] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

cheeked  girl.  They  seemed  to  know,  by  instinct,  that  they 
had  me  'hacked/  and  it  was  their  delight  to  play  on  my  fears. 
And  yet,  it  was  only  a  vague,  ill-defined  apprehension  at  the 
bottom.  The  thought  never  occurred  that  they  would  bite 
me  any  more  than  that  demons  would  rend  me,  but  they 
scared  all  the  same.  The  incipient  sisterhood  ought  to  know 
better  than  to  make  sweet  faces  and  frighten  poor  innocent 
lads. 

But  the  measles !  The  whole  school  had  it  and  could  stay 
at  home,  but  it  was  not  for  me  to  take  it. 

When  the  tender  passion  did  awake,  each  attack  was  of  a 
virulent  type,  the  first  love-spell  especially.  It  came  on  in 
the  fourteenth  or  fifteenth  year.  By  the  way,  the  incertitude 
as  to  precise  dates  of  important  events  here  shown  is  a  fact 
that  is  going  to  give  trouble  in  the  furtherance  of  this  self- 
imposed  task,  never  having  kept  a  connected  diary  as  every 
boy  and  girl,  and  man  and  woman,  should.  But  to  return 
to  my  first  love.  "Inamorata"  had  the  advantage  by 
about  a  dozen  years.  It  was  a  case  of  unrequited  affection. 
She  treated  me  meanly.  Of  course,  such  ill-mated  ardor  had 
to  find  utterance  by  the  mouth  of  the  ink-bottle.  Yes,  let  it 
be  confessed,  I  wrote  her,  aye,  in  burning  words,  telling  of 
never  having  loved  another,  and  of  unalterable  devotion  to 
her.  Either  through  the  direct  agency  of  that  superannuated 
young  female,  or  by  surreptitious  means,  to  me  unknown, 
that  billet-doux  passed  into  the  hands  of  all  others  most  ob- 
jectionable, those  of  my  paternal  ancestor.  Perhaps,  he  didn't 
make  himself  merry,  and  me  miserable,  by  reference  to  and 
quotation  from  that  injudicious  and  ill-starred  epistolary 
effusion.  These  were  usually  of  the  merry  twinkle  of  the  eye 
sort  of  order,  but  none  the  less  galling.  It  cured  me  of  love 
letters  for  a  long  time  to  follow.  Moral:  "Boys,  do  not 
write  them ;  girls,  do  not  answer  them ;  and  thus  the  evil  will 
be  cured." 

[22] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOKE. 

A  mile  from  the  house  was  the  millpond,  replete  with  fine 
perch,  and  it  afforded  endless  enjoyment,  for  I  have  ever  been 
a  devotee  of  the  rod — of  the  fishing-rod,  be  it  understood. 

And  so  the  world  sped  on  for  nine  or  ten  years  after  enter- 
ing this  ideal  home  of  boyhood.  One  day,  on  returning  from 
the  creek,  soiled,  wet,  barefoot,  coatless,  a  stranger  met  me  on 
entering.  He  was  one  of  the  most  superb  specimens  of  manly 
good  looks  that  I  had  ever  seen  up  to  that  time,  or  have  ever 
seen  since,  and  most  faultlessly  attired.  He  looked  the  sol- 
dier in  every  lineament,  movement  and  gesture,  and  as  one 
born  to  command.  He  was  my  father,  and  embraced  me 
warmly.  Kiss  me,  he  did  not,  and  never  did,  but  taught  me 
to  despise  that  mode  of  salutation  between  men  as  effeminate 
and  savoring  too  much  of  the  Latin  races,  none  of  which  stood 
high  in  his  estimation. 

A  separate  chapter  will  be  devoted  to  General  Green  later 
on. 


[23j 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  next  day  saw  me  in  the  hands  of  the  village  tailor. 

After  emerging,  I  hardly  knew  myself,  or  was  recognizable 
to  others,  such  a  complete  transmogrification  having  been 
wrought  in  the  outer  man.  The  day  after,  I  made  my  entry 
into  the  wide,  wide  world  beyond. 

After  mutual  lamentations  between  my  aunt,  the  children 
and  myself,  my  uncle  having  walked  off  a  piece,  we  started 
to  Nashville,  thirty-three  miles  off,  by  hired  conveyance. 
Eighteen  miles  from  Lebanon  stands  "The  Hermitage,"  the 
home  of  one  of  the  grandest  and  most  remarkable  men  of  this 
country  and  century,  or  those  of  any  others.  General  Green 
had  been  a  favored  young  friend  of  the  grand  old  man  in  his 
earlier  years,  and  had  spent  some  time  as  his  guest.  His  ad- 
miration for  him  was  so  great  that  he  bestowed  the  name  of 
the  old  hero  on  me,  his  only  child.  Note.  This  I  continued 
to  bear  until  the  Nullification  and  Force  Proclamation  in- 
duced us  both  to  reflect  that  it  would  be  as  well  to  substitute 
for  the  old  gentleman's  first  name  (Andrew)  my  mother's 
maiden  name  Wharton,  which  has  clung  to  me  ever  since. 
That  political  blunder  of  his  was  the  only  act  that  we  de- 
plored. 

Of  course,  there  was  no  passing  such  a  spot  without  stop- 
ping. On  being  told  that  the  General  was  still  in  bed,  my 
father  told  the  servant  not  to  disturb  him,  but  to  give  his  card 
on  arousing.  As  we  were  starting  back  to  the  vehicle,  the 
servant  rushed  back  exclaiming:  "Master  says  don't  go,  but 
come  right  in."  Be  it  said  that  for  this  deviation  from  the 
rule  against  seeing  visitors,  the  great  question  of  Texan  An- 
nexation was  then  just  in  the  bloom,  President  Polk  having 
been  installed  in  office  only  a  month  before.  His  great  prede- 
cessor was  so  deeply  absorbed  in  this  momentous  issue  that, 

[24] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTUEY  AND  MORE. 

although  only  six  weeks  from  the  grave,  he  had  himself 
helped  up  and  arrayed  in  his  morning  gown,  seated  in  easy 
chair  with  pipe  lit,  and  talked  by  the  hour  on  this  matter 
nearest  his  heart  with  one  fresh  from  the  Lone-Star  Republic, 
and  presumably  posted  on  the  drift  of  opinion  in  that  quarter. 
Here  was  illustration  of  the  old  saying — "The  ruling  passion 
strong  in  death."  One  remark  impressed  me: — "Let  me  live 
to  see  that  consummated,  and  I  can  depart  in  peace."  Other 
things  he  said  that  still  remain  on  memory's  tablets. 

After  a  while,  as  illustrating  his  proverbial  politeness  and 
consideration  for  others,  evidently  thinking  the  conversation 
was  dull  to  a  boy,  he  sent  for  one  of  his  young  kinsmen  of 
about  my  age  (if  not  at  fault  his  grandson  and  namesake), 
aud  told  him  to  take  me  in  the  garden  and  show  me  the 
flowers.  He  showed  more,  namely  Aunt  Rachel's  and  Uncle 
Andrew's  graves,  side  by  side,  and  covered  by  a  little  sum- 
mer-house-like structure.  "But  the  General  isn't  dead,"  I 
put  in.  "All  the  same,"  was  the  reply,  "but  he  wanted  to 
have  it  this  way,  and  you  know  he  has  always  had  his  own 
way."  To  this  I  assented  with  the  after-thought  of  after- 
years — "except  when  Aunt  Rachel  put  in  her  mild  veto,  sup- 
plemented with  tears."  God  bless  them  both!  for  the  "give- 
in,"  on  such  occasions,  of  that  iron,  and  otherwise  inflexible, 
will. 

On  taking  leave,  he  placed  his  hands  upon  my  head,  and 
gave  me  his  blessing.  Later  on  in  life,  two  others  of  the 
world's  celebrities  did  the  same,  barring  the  manipulation, 
thus  wise. 

As  we  were  returning  from  a  country-drive  one  afternoon 
in  Rome,  we  met  the  head  of  a  pontifical  cortege  in  carriages, 
returning  from  some  church  festival  or  other  religious  duty. 
Being  in  Rome,  etc.,  I  naturally  conformed  to  the  customs  of 
Rome,  alighted,  and  stood  uncovered  until  the  carriage  of  Pio 
Nono  had  passed.     To  our  surprise,  it  stopped  abreast,  and 

[25] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

the  venerable  Pontifex  Maximus,  for  whom  I  have  ever  since 
felt  the  highest  respect,  had  his  driver  stop,  and,  leaning  out 
of  the  window,  bestowed  the  "benedicite"  (if  correct  in 
Church  nomenclature),  and  moved  on.  Whether  that  good 
old  man's  good  wish  has  kept  me  immune  from  the  ills  of  life, 
I  am  not  prepared  to  say,  but  appreciate  the  force  of  the  great 
Hildebrand's  reproof  to  the  stiff-necked  and  stiff-kneed  young 
Englishman,  who  refused  to  kneel  at  High-Mass  in  St. 
Peter's : — "My  son,  the  blessing  of  an  old  man  will  do  thee 
no  hurt." 

The  third  instance  apposite  was  at  "Beauvoir,"  Mississippi, 
of  which  more,  perhaps,  anon. 

It  would  seem  that  I  ought  to  have  turned  out  to  be  a 
much  better  specimen  than  I  have,  after  so  much  benediction 
from  sources  most  highly  appreciated,  each  world-mover,  as 
he  was.  If  the  blessing  of  three  such  good  old  men  as  these 
availeth  not  to  keep  a  poor  wayward  child  out  of  the  burning, 
then  tell  me  not  of  a  conjoint  one  of  the  whole  College  of 
Cardinals,  with  the  eleven  thousand  virgins  of  Cologne  thrown 
in  for  good  measure. 

On  leaving  that  historic  home  of  the  most  pronounced,  not 
to  say  remarkable,  character  in  American  history,  I  could 
but  remark  on  the  judicious  judgment  in  selection  and  the 
good  taste  in  its  development.  Everything  evinced  the  eye 
and  touch  of  the  natural  artist  in  all  of  its  concomitants  and 
surroundings.  The  "Hermitage  neighborhood"  had  long  been 
a  synonym  for  refinement,  high  tone,  and  hospitality,  up  to 
the  outbreak  of  the  war,  as  I  can  aver  from  frequent  visits 
thereabouts  later  on  in  early  manhood.  The  fertility  of  the 
soil  and  adaptability  to  agriculture  were  in  keeping  with 
those  exalted  traits  of  the  owners.  In  the  heart  of  that  lovely 
region  it  was  that  the  hero  of  the  most  wonderful  battle,  and 
one  of  the  most  unique  and  phenomenal  careers  on  record, 
built  his  house  and  reared  his  beautiful  and  peaceful  home  in 

[26  j 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOKE. 

the  latter  part  of  one  of  the  stormiest  and  yet  withal  one  of 
the  most  uniformly  successful  lives,  on  a  grand  historic  scale, 
that  any  man  can  point  to. 

His  previous  homes,  from  the  one-room  cabin  in  Western 
North  Carolina,  in  which  his  grand  old  Irish  mother  had 
blessed  the  world  at  large,  but  more  especially  her  newly 
adopted  country,  with  a  hero,  a  sage,  a  statesman,  and,  above 
all,  a  MA1ST.  His  homes,  I  say,  and  surroundings,  had  not 
been  of  the  highest  aesthetic  type,  but  he  was  at  home  where- 
ever  he  was,  from  the  aforesaid  cabin  to  the  Presidential 
mansion.  He  was  a  marked  figure  in  every  sphere  and  sta- 
tion of  life.  This  power  of  adaptability  to  change  of  condi- 
tions and  circumstances  has  been  adduced  by  a  great  thinker 
as  one  of  the  most  infallible  proofs  of  inborn  gentility,  if  not 
of  highest  order  of  genius.  He  was  right,  and  here  was  an 
exemplar  of  the  combination.  Of  him  it  may  be  said,  if  of 
any, — "And  thus  he  bore,  without  reproach,  the  grand  old 
name  of  gentleman" ;  the  best  definition  of  which  rare  char- 
acter, as  given  by  Thackeray,  is — "It  is  to  be  gentle  and  gen- 
erous, brave  and  wise,  and  having  these  qualifications,  to 
exercise  them  in  the  most  graceful  manner."  This  he  exem- 
plified always,  as  Bayard  might  have  done  at  times,  Chester- 
field never. 

Of  him  was  said  by  a  newly  arrived  French  ambassador : — 
"This,  Mr.  Secretary  of  State,  is  the  surprise  of  my  life.  I 
went  in  with  you  expecting  to  find  a  boor  in  your  Chief  Mag- 
istrate, and  I  tell  you  now,  in  all  soberness,  that  I  know  not 
his  counterpart  for  refinement  in  the  court  of  my  own  coun- 
try."    High  praise  that  from  a  Frenchman. 

In  that  lovely  section  of  country,  he  drew  around  him  on 
neighboring  plantations  many  of  his  wife's  kindred,  having 
none  of  his  own.  These,  and  other  congenial  homes  in  the 
surrounding  country,  made  it  one  of  the  most  famous  resi- 
dential quarters  in  the  entire  country.     Such  was  the  fitting 

[27] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

retreat  of  the  old  hero  in  the  closing  years  of  his  most  remark^ 
able  career.  Here  it  was  rounded  off  some  six  or  eight  weeks 
after  the  visit  referred  to,  in  peace  and  good  will  with  all 
mankind,  as  he  declared  to  his  beloved  pastor,  Dr.  Edgar, 
some  time  before  the  end  came.  No  man  ever  had  such  hosts 
of  warm,  devoted  friends,  and  few,  such  virulent  and  implac- 
able foes.  The  first  he  owed  to  his  undeviating  sincerity, 
utter  fearlessness,  and  devotion  to  duty,  both  public  and  pri- 
vate. The  last  were  due,  in  great  measure,  to  his  self-assert- 
iveness  whenever  his  conscience  told  him  he  was  in  the  right. 
Assertive  he  usually  was  when  so  convinced;  needlessly  ag- 
gressive, most  rarely.  Most  marked  instance  of  this  last  was 
his  quarrel  with  a  brother-giant,  Mr.  Calhoun,  whose  nature 
was  cast  in  a  kindred  mould. 

He  ever  met  the  puppy  impertinence  of  "unworthies," 
whether  on  his  own  social  plane  or  not,  with  silent  and  sov- 
ereign contempt,  until  it  called  for  the  cane,  the  cowhide,  or 
the  pistol.  It  must  be  confessed,  too,  that  in  his  earlier  man- 
hood he  fought  cocks,  raised  and  ran  race-horses,  and  deported 
himself  generally  like  an  untamed  young  war-horse  of  the 
young  country  in  which  his  lot  was  cast.  But  there  was  no 
duplicity  or  sniveling  or  hypocrisy  in  his  make-up.  He  wore 
his  badge  upon  his  sleeve,  and  it  bore  the  impress — "truth, 
courage,  honor,  country,  charity,"  and  his  escutcheon  was 
never  belied.  True,  perhaps,  at  that  stage  he  was  not  a 
model  specimen  of  approved  orthodox  "high  society,"  a  "4-00" 
sort  of  artificial  thing;  but  he  was  what  that  pack  of  popin- 
jays could  not  evolve  in  a  million  years — a  MAN, — such  as 
the  poet  called  for — 

"  Give  me  a  man  that's  all  a  man, 
Who  stands  up  straight  and  strong  ; 
Who  loves  the  plain  and  simple  truth, 
And  scorns  to  do  a  wrong." 

There  he  was ! 

[28] 


AN   AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOKE. 

£  The  last  time  I  visited  this  tomb  of  a  hero  was  just  three 
years  ago,  on  the  occasion  of  the  Confederate  Veterans'  Re- 
union in  Nashville,  in  1897,  in  company  of  my  wife,  young- 
est daughter,  and  Mrs.  Mary  Donelson  Wilcox  of  Washington, 
daughter  of  President  Jackson's  Private  Secretary,  Andrew 
J.  Donelson,  and  the  first  child  ever  horn  in  the  White  House. 
It  was  a  privilege  to  have  this  accomplished  woman  for  a 
cicerone  midst  the  scenes  of  her  girlhood  days,  replete  with 
incident  and  childhood  memories  of  Uncle  Andrew.  It  was 
one  of  the  mysterious  charms  that  he  possessed,  that  all  chil- 
dren loved  him  after  their  brief  acquaintance.  He  seemed  to 
crave  the  company  of  the  little  ones,  probably  because  he  and 
Rachel  had  none  of  their  own,  and  he,  not  a  known  relation 
in  the  world.     The  great  man  was  lonesome. 


[29] 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Perhaps,  it  may  be  said  by  some  that  the  preceding  chapter 
is  a  little  too  effusive  in  laudation  of  this  extraordinary  man. 
To  such  be  it  said,  that  the  estimate  given  is  the  mature 
conviction  of  life-long  reading  and  reflection  in  maturer  years. 
In  boyhood  days,  he  was  far  from  being  one  of  my  ideal 
heroes,  for  that  period  had  been  passed  in  the  strongest  Whig 
county,  I  believe,  in  the  United  States,  where  party  passion 
ran  to  the  highest  pitch,  and  my  juvenile  mind  had  been 
unconsciously  tinctured  with  antipathies  against  our  neigh- 
bor, just  over  the  Wilson  border,  closely  akin  to  what  had 
until  lately  been  felt  for  the  devil.  And  yet,  here  was  a 
philosophic  Warwick,  who  made  Presidents  and  shaped  poli- 
cies, in  his  voluntary  retiracy.  Tell  me  not,  ye  partisan 
bigots,  that  this  man  was  not  a  giant  among  giants.  He 
stands  on  the  historic  scroll  so  inscribed,  and  all  the  puny 
malignity  of  partisan  and  sectional  hate  cannot  wipe  it  out. 
In  all  reverence,  be  it  said ;  God  be  praised,  he  was  a  JSForth 
Carolinian. 

I  come  now  to  speak  of  another  character  of  kindred  type, 
if  not  the  same  effulgent  shine — my  father. 

General  Thomas  Jefferson  Green ;  a  sketch  from  the  North 
Carolina  University  Magazine,  1892,  ISTo.  5,  by  his  son, 
W.  J.  Green. 

Despite  the  possible  imputation  that  praise  of  a  near  kins- 
man is  only  a  sort  of  reflected  self-laudation,  I  venture  to 
give  the  outline  of  the  life-story  of  my  nearest  male  progeni- 
tor, premising  that  if  space  permitted  a  fuller  recital,  the 
lives  of  few  would  furnish  more  varied  and  startling  incident. 

To  briefly  summarize.  In  the  fifteen  years  of  his  active 
public  life  he  had  been  a  representative  in  one  or  the  other 
branch  of  no  less  than  four  different  State  legislatures,   a 

[30] 


.-     -      : 


(<K  J,  uM&u) 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOEE. 

brigadier-general  in  command  during  the  Texan  revolution, 
had  laid  the  foundation  of  three  cities  now  in  train  of  full- 
fledged  development,  had  by  legislative  enactment  established 
the  boundary  line  between  Texas  and  Mexico,  which  led  to 
the  war  between  the  United  States  and  Mexico  and  the  result- 
ing acquisition  by  us  of  ISTew  Mexico,  Arizona,  California  and 
Nevada ;  and  was  the  first  active  advocate  of  a  railroad  to  the 
Pacific,  giving  as  reason  imperative  public  necessity,  gauged 
simply  from  a  military  standpoint,  and  without  reference  to 
the  great  East  Indian  trade,  which  has  been  the  making 
(omitting  unmaking)  of  every  State  claiming  its  monopoly. 
There  is  a  record,  and  a  sustainable  record,  of  which  no  man 
need  be  ashamed. 

Born  amidst  the  throes  of  political  revolution,  of  which 
Jefferson  and  Hamilton  were  the  incarnate  embodiment  of 
antagonizing  ideas,  he  received  the  name  and  espoused  the 
teachings  of  the  first,  and  clung  to  them  with  unwavering 
tenacity  until  his  final  dissolution  amdist  the  mighty  clash 
of  arms  resulting  some  three-score  years  later  on.  He  ever 
held  that  his  namesake  was  the  wisest  political  thinker  of  all 
times,  and  that  Mr.  Calhoun  was  his  worthy  disciple.  ISTo 
public  act  of  his  did  he  ever  deplore  or  deprecate,  save  his 
ungenerous  persecution  of  a  kindred  intellect  and  on  the  same 
line  of  thought.  Speaking  of  this  last,  self-poised  and  self- 
reliant,  shipwrecked  by  emotional  clamor  and  the  force  of 
circumstances,  he  has  been  heard  to  declare  that  "the  best- 
directed  bullet  that  ever  left  the  mouth  of  a  pistol  was  when 
Colonel  Burr  pulled  trigger  ou  the  heights  of  Weehawken." 

He  once  took  that  unfortunate  gentleman  as  text  to  incul- 
cate a  lesson  to  me.  "Whilst  Colonel  Burr  pushed  his  con- 
tempt of  invidious  public  opinion  to  a  fatal  extreme,  I  would 
nevertheless  have  you,  my  son,  imitate  him  to  the  extent  of 
not  attaching  undue  weight  to  the  fulsome  praise  of  over- 
zealous  friends  or  the  covert  dispraise  of  inimical  mouthers. 

[311 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  EEFLECTIONS. 

He,  whose  life  motto  is  'mens  sibi  conscia  recti/  will  not  be 
unduly  elated  or  depressed  by  either." 

He  was  partly  educated  at  Chapel  Hill,  and  partly  at  the 
United  States  Military  Academy.  Returning  home,  he  was 
elected  to  the  General  Assembly  shortly  after  attaining  his 
majority.  Shortly  thereafter  he  married  the  daughter  of 
Hon.  Jesse  Wharton,  of  Nashville,  Tennessee,  who  had  fig- 
ured in  both  houses  of  Congress  from  that  State.  Thereupon 
he  removed  to  Florida,  then  a  territory,  and  engaged  in  plant- 
ing until  the  death  of  his  young  wife  five  years  later,  having 
represented  his  county  in  the  Legislature  during  that  time. 
He  thereupon  repaired  to  Texas,  which  had  lately  declared 
her  independence  of  Mexico,  and  tendered  his  services  to  the 
young  republic,  just  then  emerging  into  statehood.  It  is  safe 
to  assert  that  no  corresponding  population  of  any  age  or 
country  ever  possessed  such  a  galaxy  of  adventurous,  daring 
spirits,  and  brilliant,  brainy,  cultured  men.  They  poured  in 
from  all  sections  and  many  countries,  but  notably  from  the 
Southern  States.  A  common  impulse  actuated  all,  namely,  to 
throw  off  the  Mexican  yoke  and  to  erect  a  new  republic  identi- 
cal with  that  on  the  other  side  of  the  Sabine. 

When  it  is  taken  into  account  that  the  incipient  State 
covered  an  area  about  seven  times  greater  than  North  Caro- 
lina, and  was  occupied  by  a  meager  population,  barely  exceed- 
ing that  of  Wake  County  to-day,  and  that  these  had  deliber- 
ately resolved  to  measure  blades  and  try  conclusions  with  an 
adjacent  nation  nearly  two  hundred  to  a  unit  in  excess  of 
numbers,  the  purpose  ranks  either  as  the  superlative  of  mad- 
ness or  the  sublimity  of  heroism.  They  dared  to  do  it,  and 
they  did  it. 

Odds  considered,  it  eclipses  all  the  revolutions  of  ante- 
cedent time.  Of  course  minimum  in  numbers  had  to  be 
compensated  by  maximum  in  men,  and  so  it  was.  There 
were  no  dwarfs  or  cowards  there,   but   "men,  high-minded 

[32] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOKE. 

men,"  and  mostly  of  good  old  English  stock.  By  any  others 
the  attempt  would  have  been  the  acme  of  lunacy.  Consider 
but  a  few  of  them,  for  small  as  their  number  was,  it  was  too 
extended  for  a  muster-roll.  There  was  Branch  T.  Archer, 
"the  old  Roman,"  the  father  of  the  revolution ;  Albert  Sidney 
Johnston,  by  a  later  war  catalogued  with  the  recognized  few 
greatest  captains  of  all  time;  John  Wharton,  "the  keenest 
blade  that  flashed  on  the  field  of  San  Jacinto,"  and  William, 
his  well-mated  brother ;  Mirabeau  Lamar,  statesman,  soldier, 
poet,  philanthropist,  with  inherent  intellect  permeating  every 
drop  of  his  blood.  There  was  Felix  Huston,  of  fame  punc- 
tilious, and  grand  old  Ruske,  and  Henderson,  Hamilton, 
Houston,  Burleson,  Burnet,  Hunt,  Milam  Travis,  Crockett, 
Bee,  Hays,  McCulloch,  Moore,  Fisher,  Sherman,  Wilson, 
Anson  Jones,  Lubock,  Smith,  and  a  legion  of  others  too 
numerous  to  mention — heroes,  one  and  all. 

"Souls  made  of  fire,  and  children  of  the  sun,"  were  they, 
imbued  with  hatred  of  oppression  and  love  of  adventure. 
General  (and  afterwards  Governor  and  Senator)  Foote 
places  the  subject  of  this  memoir  in  the  forefront  rank  of 
those  gallant  spirits  for  services  rendered  his  adopted  coun- 
try. (Vide  "Texas  and  Texans.")  We  challenge  any  his- 
toric State,  numbers  considered,  to  mate  at  juncture  that 
matchless  chivalry  in  all  the  lofty  attributes  of  true  man- 
hood. Let  the  slur  of  witlings  be  admitted  that  some  there 
were  in  that  heterogenous  population  "who  had  quit  their 
country  for  their  country's  good."  I,  for  one,  will  maintain, 
if  need  be,  before  a  college  of  cardinals,  that  self-sacrifice  that 
prompted  the  following  of  such  as  these  condoned  much  pre- 
vious offending. 

Charity  is  first  in  the  eye  of  the  Most  High.     Where  can 

higher  illustration  be  found  than  in  heroism  which  prompts 

self-immolation  for  principle  and  for  posterity  ?    Who  knows 

that  when  the  golden  gates  are  being  besieged  by  clamorous 

3  [33] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

claim  for  admittance,  "Goliad"  and  "The  Alamo"  will  not 
constitute  better  passport  to  the  sympathetic  old  janitor,  who 
upon  a  generous  impulse  could  chop  off  an  ear,  than  will 
psalmody,  unsupported  by  regard  for  the  rights  of  others? 
I  can  but  believe  that  Peter  will  strain  a  point  when  Crockett 
and  Travis  and  Fannin  knock. 

Arriving  in  Texas  in  1836,  he  was  commissioned  brigadier- 
general  and  directed  to  return  to  "the  States"  and  raise  a 
brigade.  This  he  promptly  did,  absorbing  his  entire  fortune 
in  the  effort.  Whilst  so  engaged  in  ISTew  Orleans  a  ludicrous 
incident  is  reported  to  have  occurred  in  one  of  the  Episcopal 
churches  of  that  city.  There  was  a  striking  likeness  between 
his  kinsman,  the  Rev.  Leonid  as  Polk,  and  himself.  One 
Sunday  some  of  his  recruits  chanced  to  stray  into  a  church 
where  the  later-on  fighting  bishop  was  officiating.  One  of 
them,  mistaking  him  for  his  senior  officer,  who  was  not  over- 
clerically  inclined,  remarked,  loud  enough  to  be  heard  by 
most  of  the  congregation:  "Well,  boys,  who'd  a  thought  it? 
Uncle  Jeff  a-preaching,  and  in  his  shirt-tail  at  that."  It  is 
needless  to  add  that  an  unorthodox  smile  spread  over  the 
worshippers. 

In  the  meanwhile  the  decisive  battle  of  San  Jacinto  had 
been  won  against  overwhelming  odds,  and  the  Mexican  Gen- 
eralissimo was  a  puling  prisoner.  Pate  so  ordained  that 
General  Green  should  arrive  at  Yelasco  on  the  identical  day 
that  Santa  Anna  was  released  and  placed  on  a  war  vessel  to 
be  carried  to  Vera  Cruz.  General  Green,  believing  this  to  be 
an  unauthorized  exercise  of  power  on  the  part  of  some  one, 
protested  against  its  being  carried  out.  Together  with  Gen- 
erals Hunt  and  Henderson,  under  authority  of  President  Bur- 
net, he  went  on  board  and  brought  him  ashore.  This  action 
was  fully  sustained  by  the  government,  and  the  tyrant  was 
consigned  to  his  custody  for  safe  keeping.     During  the  time, 

he  was  my  father's  guest  and  bed-fellow.     When  their  rela- 

[34] 


AN"  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOEE. 

tions  were  subsequently  reversed,  General  Green  was  made  to 
feel  acutely  his  long  pent-up  venom.  The  Mexican  assassin 
ordered  him  heavily  ironed  and  made  to  work  the  roads. 
This  last  he  emphatically  refused  to  do,  though  threatened 
with  death  as  the  alternative.      (See  his  Journal.) 

For  a  while  the  young  republic  enjoyed  comparative  immu- 
nity after  her  big  neighbor  had  been  taught  on  the  San 
Jacinto  the  sort  of  material  she  was  made  of.  But  later  on, 
Mexico  relying  on  numbers  and  resources,  and  her  President 
having  partially  recovered  from  his  panic,  incident  to  the 
San  Jacinto  'grip'  and  consequent  confinement,  began  his 
incursions  again,  and  carried  them  on  in  a  most  merciless 
and  demoniac  spirit,  scarcely  equalled  in  barbaric  atrocity  by 
any  civilized  people  since  the  devastation  of  the  Palatinate. 

Then  it  was,  as  if  by  common  consent  of  the  sturdy  settlers, 
a  counter-invasion  was  resolved  upon.  A  force  of  two  or 
three  thousand  was  assembled,  and  all  clamorous  for  retalia- 
tion. But,  through  executive,  sharp  practice  and  chicane, 
President  Houston  being  opposed  to  the  movement,  the  bulk 
of  them  was  induced  to  disband  and  return  to  their  homes. 
Some  seven  hundred,  however,  resolved  to  remain,  and,  under 
command  of  General  Somerville,  an  appointee  of  President 
Sam  Houston,  crossed  into  Mexico.  Their  commander,  how- 
ever, imitating  the  King  of  Prance,  marched  over,  and  then 
marched  back  again.  Then,  under  implied  executive  author- 
ity, he  started  homewards  with  something  like  one-half  of  his 
command. 

Three  hundred  and  four  gallant  fellows,  however,  refused 
to  go,  and  determined  to  recross  the  Rio  Grande  and  try  con- 
clusions on  the  enemy's  ground.  The  battle  of  Mier  was  the 
consequence,  in  which  two  hundred  and  sixty-one  (261) 
Texans,  after  inflicting  a  loss  of  over  three  times  their  num- 
ber upon  a  force  of  two  thousand  three  hundred  and  forty 

[35] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

(2,340)  under  General  Ampudia,  were  cajoled  into  a  sur- 
render by  false  claim  and  falser  promise.  It  is  well-estab- 
lished fact  that  General  Green,  the  second  in  command,  pro- 
tested most  loudly  against  such  promise,  and  called  for  a 
hundred  volunteers  to  cut  their  way  through  the  enemy's 
lines.  These  not  being  forthcoming,  he  was  surrendered  with 
the  rest,  after  firing  with  effect  the  two  last  shots  and  break- 
ing his  arms. 

They  were  then  started  on  foot  for  the  Castle  of  Perote  for 
safe  keeping,  that  being  the  strongest  fortress  in  Mexico; 
Colonel  Fisher,  General  Green,  and  Captain  Henrie  as  inter- 
preter, being  kept  in  advance  as  hostages  for  the  good  be- 
havior of  the  others.  When  considerably  advanced  in  the 
country,  he  found  means  to  communicate  with  the  command, 
and  enjoined  upon  them  to  make  a  break  if  opportunity 
occurred,  without  regard  to  himself  and  the  other  two.  This 
they  did  at  Salado,  overpowering  and  disarming  a  guard  of 
more  than  twice  their  nuifiber,  and  started  back  for  Texas. 
Subsequently  they  were  recaptured  in  the  mountains,  in  a 
starving  condition  and  perishing  of  thirst.  Then  ensued  one 
of  the  crowning  infamies  of  Mexico's  President — the  tyrant, 
Santa  Anna.  By  his  bloodthirsty  order,  every  tenth  man  of 
that  little  band  of  heroes  was,  by  lot,  taken  out  and  assassi- 
nated. Upon  receipt  of  news  of  it,  a  halt  was  called  and  the 
hostages  told  to  dismount  in  order  to  carry  out  his  orders  to 
shoot  them. 

All  preliminaries  to  the  command  "Fire !"  being  arranged, 
the  captain,  who  was  a  devout  son  of  the  Established  Church, 
bethought  himself  of  one  oversight.  "Gentlemen,"  he  said, 
through  the  interpreter,  "would  you  not  like  priestly  consola- 
tion before  we  part  company  ?"  "Tell  him  no,"  was  my 
father's  rejoinder;  "that  we  belong  to  a  race  that  knows  but 
one  Father  confessor,  and  He  seems  to  be  unknown  in  this 
God-forsaken  country." 

[36] 


AN   AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CEXTURY  A^D  MORE. 

Being  then  asked  if  he  would  like  to  niake  a  dying  speech, 
the  reply  was :  "Tell  him  yes,  Dan,  I  have  a  dying  speech  to 
make ;  that  I  had  begun  to  think  we  were  in  charge  of  a  gen- 
tleman and  a  soldier,  but  now  discover  the  mistake ;  that,  like 
most  of  his  mongrel  race,  he  is  only  a  d — d  cowardly  assassin 
and  hireling  butcher." 

Poor  Dan,  who  taught  me  Spanish  a  little  later  on,  and 
who  was  by  act  of  the  United  States  Congress  a  little  later 
recognized  hero  of  "Encarnacion,"  was  of  incalculable  ser- 
vice to  General  Taylor  on  the  eve  of  Buena  Yista,  by  informa- 
tion conveyed  by  him  by  means  of  one  of  the  most  reckless 
escapes  ever  made  after  that  surrender.  The  incident  de- 
serves more  than  passing  notice.  Captain  Henrie  (Dan)  was 
an  ex-midshipman  in  the  United  States  navy,  and  laughed 
at  danger  as  he  did  at  most  other  things.  He  was  amongst 
the  first  to  volunteer  in  the  Mexican  war,  giving  as  a  reason 
that  he  intended  "to  get  even  with  the  green-backed  mulattoes 
over  the  Grande."  "When  Colonel  Clay's  command,  on  ad- 
vanced service,  was  surrounded  and  captured  at  Encarnacion, 
Dan  was  of  the  number.  General  Ampudia,  recognizing  him, 
remarked:  "And  so,  Captain  Henrie,  we  are  to  have  the 
pleasure  of  your  company  back  to  Perote !"  "Excuse  me, 
General,"  was  the  saucy  reply ;  "when  I  travel  I  generally 
select  my  own  company."  The  Colonel,  who  was  riding  a 
high-mettled  thoroughbred  by  courtesy  of  the  captor,  rode  up 
to  Dan  shortly  after  the  march  was  begun,  and  told  him  in 
undertone  that  it  was  all-important  that  General  Taylor 
should  be  advised  that  the  enemy  were  concentrating  in  over- 
whelming force  in  that  quarter.  "Get  me  in  your  stirrups, 
Colonel,  and  I'll  take  it  to  him,  or  die,"  was  the  prompt  reply. 
This  was  effected  on  the  plea  that  he,  the  Colonel,  would  like 
for  one  of  his  men  to  tone  down  his  charger.  Dan,  of  course, 
was  the  man  selected.  As  soon  as  he  was  in  the  saddle  he 
began  to  make  the  noble  animal  restive  by  a  sly  application 

[37] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

of  the  spur,  and  then  suddenly  driving  them  both  in  to  the 
rowels,  he  rode  through  and  over  half  a  dozen  mustangs  and 
their  riders,  and,  though  a  thousand  "escopitas"  were  emptied 
at  him,  he  and  his  horse  escaped  without  a  scratch.  Waving 
his  hat,  he  yelled  back:  "Adios,  Ampudia;  tell  old  Peg-Leg 
(Santa  Anna)  we'll  give  him  hell."  In  briefest  time  possi- 
ble the  news  was  conveyed  to  "Old  Zack."  In  recognition  of 
the  feat,  Congress  voted  the  hero  six  thousand  dollars 
($6,000)  and  two  thousand  (2,000)  acres  of  land  (if  I  am 
correct  as  to  quantity),  and  Dan  lived  upon  it  like  a  fighting 
cock  for  three  whole  months,  and  a  little  later  on  died  in  the 
Charity  Hospital,  St.  Louis,  true  to  the  last  to  man's  noblest 
instincts  and  to  all  of  his  host  of  friends,  except  himself. 

Captain  Henrie,  I  say,  used  laughingly  to  remark  that 
whilst  the  General's  "dying  speech  was  rendered  in  my  best 
and  most  expressive  Castilian,"  I  took  the  liberty  of  adding 
on  my  own  hook :  "Captain,  them's  not  my  sentiments ;  I 
know  you  to  be  muy  valiente."  Dan  further  added  that  the 
effect  produced  by  the  "dying  speech"  was  electric,  and  just 
the  reverse  of  that  anticipated.  "Tell  him,"  exclaimed  the 
Mexican  officer,  "he  is  not  mistaken.  If  General  Santa  Anna 
requires  paid  butchers,  he  will  have  to  find  a  substitute  for 
me.    Mount,  gentlemen,  and  let's  push  on." 

Close  shaving,  that !  Finally,  the  whole  party  were  locked 
up  in  Perote's  dungeon  keep.  Before  they  had  well  gotten 
their  new  quarters  warm,  objecting  to  the  cold  comfort  they 
afforded,  sixteen  of  the  most  resolute  determined  to  vacate 
them  and  re-immigrate  to  Texas.  To  do  this  they  had  to  cut 
through  an  eight-foot  wall  composed  of  a  volcanic  rock  harder 
than  granite,  and  with  most  crude  and  indifferent  utensils  to 
work  with.  It  was  a  conception  sufficient  to  have  appalled 
even  Baron  Trenck,  whom  all  the  State  prisons  of  Prussia 
could  not  restrain.  It  required  weeks  and  months  of  unremit- 
ting work  to  do  it,  but  finally  it  was  done ;  and  on  the  night 

[38] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

of  July  2,  1843,  they  crawled  through  the  narrow  aperture, 
which  six  months  of  starvation  made  easier  for  them,  let  them- 
selves down  by  means  of  a  small  rope  to  the  bottom  of  the 
moat,  some  twenty  or  thirty  feet  below,  scaled  the  opposite 
side  and  a  "chevaux  de  frise"  beyond,  and  stood  up  free  once 
more,  but  carrying  their  lives  in  hand.  Here  they  separated, 
by  preconcert,  into  parties  of  two ;  General  Green  and  our  old 
friend,  Captain  Dan  Henrie,  going  together  and  striking  out 
for  Vera  Cruz.  Eight  of  them,  after  incalculable  sufferings, 
hardships  and  hairbreadth  escapes,  including  the  two  last 
named,  got  back  to  Texas.     The  other  eight  were  recaptured. 

All  of  the  special  details,  incidents  and  anecdotes  connected 
with  these  splendid  achievements  were  graphically  told  by 
General  Green  in  "The  Texan  Expedition  Against  Mier,"  an 
octavo  volume  of  some  five  hundred  pages,  published  by  the 
Harpers  in  1845,  a  work  extensively  sold,  which  many  of 
your  older  readers  will  doubtless  recall,  now  out  of  print. 

Shortly  after  his  arrival  at  home,  he  was  returned  to  the 
Congress  of  Texas,  where  he  was  unremitting  in  his  efforts 
to  effect  the  release  of  his  unfortunate  comrades  whom  he 
left  in  Mexican  dungeons.  This  was  finally  effected,  some 
twelve  months  later  on,  after  some  of  their  original  number 
had  paid  the  extreme  j)enalty  that  cowardly  tyranny  can 
extort  from  freedom's  champions  when  the  opportunity  offers. 
This  imperfect  tribute  to  their  valor  and  endurance  is  being 
penned  on  the  forty-ninth  Christmas  anniversary  of  that  won- 
derful fight. 

During  his  legislative  service  he  introduced  the  bill  making 
the  Bio  Grande  the  boundary  line  between  the  two  contending 
countries,  which  became  a  law,  the  "Neuces"  being  the  ex- 
treme limit  that  Mexico  would  either  directly  or  indirectly 
recognize.  It  was  upon  the  basis  of  claim  then  set  up  that 
President  Polk,  after  annexation,  ordered  troops  under  Gen- 
eral  Taylor  to  the   mouth   of  the   first-named   river,   which 

[39] 


RECOLLECTIONS   AND    REFLECTION'S. 

resulted  in  the  battles  of  Palo  Alto  and  Resaca  and  the  war 
ensuing.  That  the  acquisition  of  the  vast  and  indispensable 
territory  by  the  treaty  of  peace  was  worth  hundreds  of  times 
more  to  the  United  States  than  the  cost  of  the  war  amounted 
to,  is  now  generally  conceded. 

On  the  eve  of  annexation  he  returned  to  the  United  States, 
and  shortly  after  married  the  widow  of  John  S.  Ellery,  of 
Boston,  a  lady  of  rare  worth  and  manifold  attractions. 

Four  years  later  (1849)  we  find  him  journeying  alone 
through  Mexico,  from  Vera  Cruz  to  Acapulco,  on  his  way  to 
California,  which  was  just  then  looming  into  consequence  by 
reason  of  large  gold  discoveries.  After  working  in  the  mines 
for  a  while,  he  was  elected  to  the  first  Senate  of  that  State 
and  served  out  one  term,  being  a  prominent  candidate  for  the 
United  States  Senate  in  the  ensuing  year. 

While  in  that  State  he  projected  and  laid  out  the  towns  of 
Oro  and  Vallejo,  the  last  for  a  while  the  recognized  capital, 
and  both  now  places  of  considerable  repute.  During  his  citi- 
zenship in  Texas  he,  in  connection  with  Dr.  Archer  and  the 
Whartons,  had  purchased  and  laid  out  Velasco  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Brazos,  now  of  recognized  importance,  owing  to  recent 
deepening  of  water  on  the  bars. 

During  his  sojourn  in  California  he  was  made  major- 
general  of  her  militia  and  sent  with  an  adequate  force  to 
suppress  Indian  disturbances  in  the  interior,  which  was  done. 
But  a  greater  work  was  the  defeat  of  what  was  known  as  the 
"Divorce  Bill"  in  that  first  Legislature,  which  authorized 
absolute  separation  upon  mutual  request  of  man  and  wife. 
Unless  mistaken,  this  infamous  measure,  making  marriage  a 
practical  nullity,  had  passed  the  House  and  was  about  to  be 
brought  up  in  the  Senate,  with  every  indication  of  an  almost 
unanimous  vote,  if  taken  on  that  day.  At  the  time,  there 
being  few  women  in  the  State,  the  far-reaching  and  pernicious 
effects   were    not   duly   weighed    and    considered.      Senators 

[40] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOKE. 

Green  and  McDougall  (afterwards  Governor  and  United 
States  Senator)  were  amongst  the  very  few  in  opposition  to 
the  measure ;  but  they  were  earnest,  and,  after  exhausting  all 
the  devices  of  parliamentary  strategy  possible,  succeeded  in 
postponing  a  vote,  thereby  defeating  the  measure. 

During  the  same  session  he  introduced  and  had  passed  a 
bill  for  the  establishment  of  a  State  University,  which  has 
grown  to  be  one  of  the  most  flourishing  and  best  endowed 
schools  on  the  continent.  That  world-renowned  scholar,  Pro- 
fessor Daniel  C.  Gilman,  was  called  from  its  presidency  to 
fill  the  same  position  in  the  Johns  Hopkins  University,  which 
he  has  done  in  a  way  to  elicit  the  admiration  and  astonish- 
ment of  the  scholastic  world. 

The  reader  will,  I  trust,  pardon  a  personal  reminiscence  in 
this  connection  of  the  narrative.  Shortly  after  Mr.  Polk's 
inauguration  as  President,  General  Green  returned  to  the 
United  States,  and  taking  me,  then  a  small  boy,  with  him, 
repaired  to  the  Hermitage  and  passed  the  greater  part  of  the 
day  with  his  old  and  honored  friend,  ex-President  Jackson. 
It  was  a  visit  ever  to  be  remembered.  Although  but  six 
short  weeks  intervened  between  that  day  and  the  one  that  saw 
him  borne  to  the  corner  of  his  garden  for  interment,  his  old- 
time  vigor  of  expression  and  enthusiasm  seemed  in  nowise 
abated.  The  old  hero  had  himself  lifted  out  of  bed,  and, 
whilst  sitting  upright  in  an  easy  chair,  entered  warmly  into 
conversation  with  his  visitor  upon  the  current  topics  of  the 
day,  upon  men  and  upon  horses.  Upon  the  question  of  Texan 
annexation  he  said :  "Let  me  live  to  see  it,  and  I  can  truly 
say  'Let  Thy  servant  depart  in  peace.'  '  As  we  were  leaving, 
he  arose  with  an  effort,  and  placing  his  hand  upon  my  head, 
gave  me  his  blessing. 

Some  four  and  forty  years  thereafter,  almost  to  the  day, 
antedating  dissolution,  it  was  my  singular  good  fortune  to 
have  been  present  at  the  death-bed,  as  it  were,  of  another 

[41] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

patriot  hero,  sage,  and  statesman.  Some  six  weeks  before  his 
death,  and  by  his  invitation,  I  passed  three  or  four  days  with 
ex-President  Davis  in  his  quiet  and  lovely  retreat  of  "Beau- 
voir."  It  was  indeed  a  personal  privilege  to  have  seen  and 
heard  those  two  immortal  men  at  the  same  stage  of  their  sun- 
set. In  grand  heroic  qualities  they  were  of  kindred  type,  and 
cast  in  kindred  mould.  Self-reliant  conviction,  and  devotion 
to  conviction  pedestaled  on  high  principles,  was  the  ruling 
trait  of  each.  It  was  the  ruling  trait  of  Csesar,  and,  in  lesser 
degree,  of  Cromwell,  of  Frederic,  and  of  Napoleon.  Coupled 
with  high  genius,  and  the  hero  is  the  inevitable  outcome. 

In  those  two  old  men  I  see,  and  methinks  posterity  will 
see,  the  two  most  pronounced  and  Titanic  figures  of  this 
country  during  the  century.  But  a  truce  to  digression,  and 
return  to  our  subject.  That  he  was  the  friend  of  such,  and 
of  Calhoun  and  Albert  Sidney  Johnston,  is  a  no  mean  letter  of 
credit  of  itself. 

During  the  pending  annexation  negotiations  he  was  ten- 
dered by  Mr.  Polk's  administration  the  post  of  confidential 
agent  in  that  matter,  but  declined  on  the  ground  that  he  was 
then  a  citizen  of  the  other  contracting  power.  Later  on,  he 
was  indirectly  offered  by  President  Pierce  another  important 
diplomatic  appointment,  but  again  requested  that  his  name 
might  not  be  sent  to  the  Senate. 

In  his  declining  years  he  returned  to  his  native  county  and 
settled  on  a  plantation  on  Shocco  Creek,  known  as  "Esmer- 
alda," and  passed  his  remaining  days  in  the  cultivation  of 
corn  and  tobacco,  old  friendships  and  old-fashioned  hospi- 
tality. He  had  long  foreseen  and  foretold  as  inevitable  the 
great  political  crisis  which  resulted  in  the  clash  of  arms  be- 
tween the  sections  in  1861.  Whilst  devoutly  attached  to  "the 
Union  of  the  Constitution,"  nevertheless,  when  he  saw  the 
trend  of  events  and  could  deduce  therefrom  but  the  one  alter- 
native of  sectional  domination  or  sectional  assertion,  he  did 

[42] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOKE. 

not  hesitate  which  to  espouse.  In  fact,  he  may  be  said  to  have- 
been  what  few  now  are  willing  to  confess  themselves  to  have 
been — an  "original  secessionist,"  a  secessionist  per  se.  He 
reasoned  that  the  solution  of  the  dread  question  "by  wager 
of  battle"  was  unavoidable,  and  each  recurring  census  told 
him  that  the  longer  it  was  deferred,  the  worse  it  would  be 
for  the  assertive  and  weaker  side.  The  unceasing  regret  of 
his  latter  days,  and  hastening  cause  of  his  death,  was  that 
when  the  mighty  crisis  came  he  was  debarred  by  chronic  dis- 
ease (the  gout)  from  taking  part. 

He  died,  as  some  have  said,  from  a  broken  heart,  sequent 
upon  a  succession  of  disasters  in  1863,  including  Gettysburg, 
Vicksburg,  Port  Hudson,  and  operations  incident  to  these  last. 

He  died  on  the  12th  of  December,  1863,  and  was  buried  in 
his  garden  whilst  the  writer  was  a  prisoner  of  war  on  John- 
son's Island. 

In  manner  he  was  suave,  gentle  and  polite,  although  stran- 
gers might  have  thought  him  a  little  brusque.  In  form  and 
feature,  one  of  the  finest  specimens  of  physical  manhood  ever 
seen.  Simple  and  straightforward  in  his  bearing  and  inter- 
course with  all,  he  loathed  duplicity  and  hypocrisy  in  others. 
Especially  did  he  hold  in  unutterable  abhorrence  vulgar  up- 
start pretension  and  pretenders,  whether  of  the  purse-proud, 
official,  or  any  other  variety,  mattered  naught.  Had  he  made 
accumulation  and  money-making  the  primary  object  of  life, 
he  had  died  wealthy,  for  few  ever  had  such  opportunities. 

This  poor  notice  of  a  pronounced  and  historic  character  and 
gallant  gentleman  cannot  be  more  fittingly  closed  than  by  an 
excerpt  from  an  address  of  a  gifted  young  friend,  Mr.  Tasker 
Polk,  of  Warrenton,  ]^"orth  Carolina : 

"Among  all  her  illustrious  sons  of  the  past,  there  is  not  one 
at  the  shrine  of  whose  memory  Warren  County  looks  with 
greater  love  and  reverence  than  at  that  of  General  Thomas  J. 
Green.     He  was  generous  to  a  fault,  noble  and  grand,  fiery 

[43] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

and  impulsive ;  heard  the  Texan  cry  for  freedom,  left  a  home 
of  luxury,  sought  the  field  where  blood  like  water  flowed,  and 
unsheathed  his  sword  in  defense  of  a  stranger  land,  nor 
sheathed  it  till  that  land  was  freed.  The  cry  of  the  oppressed 
reached  his  ear,  and  was  answered  by  his  unselfish  heart — 
that  heart  which  gave  the  first  beat  of  life  'neath  Warren's 
sky. 

''Bravely  and  gallantly  he  fought.  His  blood  stained  the 
plains  and  broad  prairies  of  Texas,  the  cause  for  which  he 
fought  triumphed,  the  "Lone  Star  State"  was  saved  from 
Mexican  persecution,  and  his  chivalric  nature  was  satisfied. 
Years  passed,  but  the  memory  of  old  Warren  still  remained 
fresh  in  his  mind. 

"He  returned  to  spend  the  remainder  of  his  illustrious  life 
among  his  people,  and  many  yet  there  are  who  remember  with 
pleasure  how  'Esmeralda's'  door,  whether  touched  by  hand  of 
rich  or  poor,  ever  swung  on  the  hinges  of  hospitality." 


[44] 


CHAPTER  V. 

To  return  from  this  digression.  We  reached  Nashville  two 
hours  later,  and,  after  a  week's  delay,  continued  on  north  by 
steamboat,  stopping  over  in  Louisville  a  few  days.  At  that 
time  and  place  was  being  held  a  religious  council,  conference, 
convocation,  or  whatever  the  appropriate  designation  may  be, 
which  was  pregnant  with  most  momentous  consequences  a 
little  later  on. 

It  was  beyond  my  ken  to  grasp  its  import  at  the  time.  My 
father  did,  and  remarked  to  me,  when  the  decision  was 
announced  dividing  the  great  Methodist  Church  into  two 
bodies  on  sectional  lines : 

"That,  my  son,  is  the  entering  wedge  which  is  destined  to 
split  this  Union  asunder  and  to  deluge  the  country  in  blood. 
Yankee  bigotry,  impudence,  and  numerical  count  with  each 
recurring  census,  have  long  held  the  hellish  purpose  in  con- 
templation, and  only  bides  the  odds  that  cowardice  demands 
to  set  about  its  execution.  Whilst  it  will  prove  (whatever  the 
issue)  the  greatest  calamity  that  ever  befell  a  free  people, 
nevertheless,  if  they  will  have  it,  let  it  come,  and  the  sooner 
for  us  the  better,  owing  to  the  aforesaid  census-taker  of  suc- 
ceeding decades." 

Was  he  a  prophet? 

The  question  at  issue  on  that  grave  occasion,  as  it  recurs 
after  a  lapse  of  intervening  years,  involved  the  right  of  a 
bishop  of  that  persuasion  holding  slaves,  whether  hereditary 
bondsmen  or  otherwise.  The  verdict  rendered  on  that  occa- 
sion by  that  oracular  body  was  reproof,  reprimand,  insult, 
not  only  to  that  high  dignitary,  but  to  every  subordinate 
canonical  who  might  aspire  to  that  high  pinnacle.  ISFay, 
more ;  the  vile  insult  reached  out  by  implication  and  included 
every  member  of  the  laity  who  was  or  might  be  possessor  of 

[45] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

a  "chattel  in  black,"  either  by  ancestral  devise  or  by  purchase 
from  New  England  "negro-traders,"  ab  initio,  or  later  on. 
Every  other  church,  except  two,  I  believe,  soon  followed  the 
pernicious  example  set. 

Thus,  these  in  alliance  with  a  cackling  flock  of  fussy  old 
maids,  some  in  petticoats  and  some  in  breeches,  with  a  lot 
of  old  Congressional  emasculates  thrown  in  for  seasoning,  was 
set  a-boiling  this  hell  broth  of  brotherly  hate,  which  required 
sulphur  and  saltpetre,  and  most  plethoric  supplies  of  the  com- 
bination, to  tone  it  down.  Moral :  Let  the  church  or  churches 
attend  to  legitimate  duties,  and  let  extraneous  ones  severely 
alone;  let  the  class  of  nondescript  sex  just  named  forswear 
political  meetings  as  above  their  reach  and  comprehension; 
let  them  stay  at  home  and  rock  the  cradle,  not  of  home- 
production  contents,  which  nature,  with  wise  forethought,  has 
denied  that  unfortunate  class,  but  let  them  borrow  of  their 
more  fortunate  neighbors.  The  advice  is  well  meant,  and  if 
adopted  will  keep  that  whole  tribe  out  of  political  pow-wows 
and  caterwaulings,  and  check  their  insatiate  and  insane  crav- 
ing for  notoriety.  Let  us  give  gratitude  that  our  section  is 
not  favorable  to  such  noxious,  hermaphroditic,  fungus  growth. 

In  due  time — that  is,  about  four  times  what  it  now  takes — 
the  Federal  Capital  was  reached.  Barring  the  public  build- 
ings, which  were  even  then  creditable  to  a  new  country,  de- 
spite later-on  comparisons,  when  they  stand,  as  to-day,  the 
finest  in  the  world,  the  city  of  Washington  gave  little  promise 
of  its  subsequent  marvellous  development.  Muddy  and  un- 
paved  streets,  dwellings  and  stores  of  common  structure  and 
two  or  three  stories  in  height,  vacant  lots  almost  reaching  out 
to  the  dignity  of  corn-fields,  sloshy  crossings  between  streets ! 
A  sluggish,  murky  creek  ran,  or  rather  crept,  through  the 
town,  euphemistically  or  derisively  called  "The  Tiber."  Gar- 
bage heaps  and  cesspools  there  were  on  all  hands.  Such  was 
a  most  uninviting  village,  as  seen  by  me  and  the  snob  Dickens 

[46] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

much  about  the  same  time.  It  was  about  midway  between 
this  day  and  the  one  on  which  President  Washington  and  his 
Trench  protege,  L'Enfant,  first  began  work  on  the  metropolis 
that  was  to  be,  half  a  century  intervening. 

What  a  contrast  between  the  straggling  village  and  the  city 
of  to-day  !  What  a  contrast  between  then  and  now !  Except 
in  numbers,  rivaling  the  proudest  capitals  in  the  world  to-day 
in  grandeur  and  magnificence,  and  suggesting  those  of  ancient 
fame  on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber  and  Tigris.  What  it  is  des- 
tined to  be  at  the  middle  of  the  dawning  century  baffles  the 
imagination  and  "must  give  us  pause."  For  the  past  last 
half  its  growth  and  artistic  developmeut  have  kept  pace  with 
the  material  progress  of  the  country,  which,  until  lately,  was 
bounded  by  oceans  on  every  cardinal  side  save  one,  until  in 
an  evil  hour,  lust  for  more  land  and  imperial  sway  made 
oceans  far  too  contracted  for  our  boundary  lines.  The  "mad 
sons"  of  Macedon  and  Corsica  were  actuated  by  the  same 
boundless  outreach  of  desire.  May  not  republics  profit  by  the 
outlined  warnings  of  tyrants  and  would-be  all-ruling  and  out- 
reaching  despots,  wearers  of  purple  and  crowns  though  they 
be  ?  Our  tribe  are  mighty  good  imitators  on  that  line,  as  is 
now  being  developed. 

It  has  been  said  that  only  three  men  in  recorded  history 
have  essayed  the  task  of  building  a  big  city  by  systematic  plan 
and  method,  who  succeeded  in  the  undertaking.  These,  I 
believe,  are  Alexander,  Constantine,  and  Peter  of  Russia, 
each  of  whom  left  a  monument  behind  adding  to  the  immor- 
tality of  its  builder,  whose  name  it  bore.  Here  stands  cata- 
logued a  fourth !  Each  was  built  by  the  pride  of  men,  by 
subsidies  and  largess  out  of  the  public  coffers. 

While  I  was  in  Washington  I  was  introduced  by  my  father 
to  President  Polk  and  most  of  his  cabinet,  as  well  as  to  numer- 
ous prominent  gentlemen  in  both  houses  of  Congress,  amongst 
them  being  Hon.  Robert  J.  Walker,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 

[47] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

who,  by  common  consent  of  most  competent  judges,  is  held  to 
be  the  ablest  financier  who  has  ever  held  that  high  position. 
Ten  years  later  he  did  me  the  honor  to  take  me  in  his  law 
office  as  junior  associate  with  himself  and  Mr.  Louis  Janin 
in  the  capital  city,  having  just  been  admitted  to  practice 
before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 

From  Washington  the  journey  was  continued  to  Bidgeway, 
North  Carolina,  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  my  paternal 
grandmother,  then  eighty  years  of  age.  This  venerable  lady 
impressed  one  from  the  start  as  one  born  to  command,  and 
such  was  the  reputation  that  tradition  gave  her,  after  raising 
a  dozen  full-grown  boys  and  girls.  Her  right  to  command 
was  recognized  of  all,  and  most  of  all  by  the  old  campaigner 
who  had  just  returned  after  a  ten-years  runaway.  I  am  per- 
suaded that  in  the  even  tenor  of  her  way  she  instilled  a 
wholesome  respect  for  petticoat  government  on  all  of  her  im- 
mediate offspring,  omitting  not  a  progenitor  of  the  masculine 
gender,  who  enjoyed  the  singular  felicity  of  being  my  grand- 
father.    And  yet  she  was  a  very  little  woman. 

Here  I  remained  for  the  next  few  months,  studying  Spanish 
under  my  father's  old  prison-mate,  Captain  Dan  Henrie,  and 
indulging  my  fondness  for  miscellaneous  reading,  besides  get- 
ting acquainted  with  my  paternal  kindred,  none  of  whom 
were  previously  known.  As  a  rule,  they  turned  out  to  be, 
like  those  on  the  maternal  side  of  the  house,  a  very  creditable 
connection.  Then  returned  to  Washington  and  passed  the 
winter  at  the  old  "United  States  Hotel,"  at  the  time  one  of 
the  best  caravansaries  in  the  city,  but  in  the  march  of  subse- 
quent progress  now  difficult  to  find.  It  stood  on  Pennsyl- 
vania avenue,  near  Four-and-a-half  street. 

During  that  time  I  had  for  room-mate  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  men  of  his  age,  Dr.  Branch  T.  Archer,  to  whom 
allusion  has  already  been  made.  He  was  the  admitted  first 
instigator  to  revolt  against  Mexican  tyranny  in  the  newly- 

[48] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

fledged  commonwealth  (Texas),  and  that  in  a  town  garrisoned 
by  a  thousand  Mexican  soldiery.  He  had  sent  out  circulars 
to  every  American  settler,  within  a  radius  of  thirty  miles,  to- 
be  on  hand  at  appointed  time  with  rifle  and  bowie  knife. 
Some  three  or  four  dozen  of  the  sturdy  fellows  were  there  to 
meet  him.  In  burning  words  he  told  of  the  wrongs  and  out- 
rages to  which  the  young  colony  had  been  subjected  by  irre- 
sponsible satraps  and  their  minions,  and  appealed  to  their 
Anglo-Saxon  manhood  to  rise  on  the  spot  and  put  an  end  to 
the  crying  shame  of  white  men  longer  submitting  to  the  sway 
of  mongrels  and  mulattoes. 

His  words  went  home,  the  little  band  rose  to  a  man,  and 
killed,  captured  or  expelled  the  entire  garrison,  and  Texas 
thence  on  was  to  all  intents  a  free,  sovereign  and  independent 
State.  Never  was  more  daring  experiment  tried  by  a  single 
man  for  grander  purpose.  It  might  aptly  be  termed  a  single 
handed  hero  lynching  a  Regiment,  or  rather,  as  results  prove, 
an  Empire,  and  for  the  only  cause  that  justifies  lynching. 
Let  Horatius  take  a  back  seat.  Fearless  as  he  was  by  nature, 
he  could  but  realize  the  apparent  foolhardiness  of  the  venture, 
and  had  a  fine  thoroughbred  saddled  and  ready  at  hand  in 
case  his  appeal  failed  to  strike  fire.  Strike  it  did,  and  won 
for  him  the  proud  title  which  he  ever  wore,  and  wears,  of 
"Father  of  the  Texan  Revolution."  Gentle  and  kind-hearted 
he  was  to  a  degree ;  but  proud,  haughty,  and  punctilious  to  a 
fine  point,  in  the  face  of  unwarranted  and  arrogant  assump- 
tion. He  was,  on  the  whole,  a  sort  of  living  embodiment  of 
Lever's  inimitable  character,  Count  Considine,  barring  his 
superior  culture  and  refinement.  He  and  my  father  had  been 
for  long  like  twin  brothers,  living  under  the  same  roof,  and 
the  love  he  bore  the  father  was  naturally  continued  to  the 
son.  His  society  was  ever  more  congenial  to  me  than  that  of 
younger  person^  of  more  suitable  years.     Although  he  could 

4  ["49] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

have  had  the  entree  to  any  society  at  the  capital,  I  was  vain 
enough  to  think  that  he  preferred  mine,  as  I  did  his. 

In  one  of  the  evening  chats  over  the  fire,  conversation  lead- 
ing thereto,  he  remarked  with  much  feeling : 

"Jackson,  never  step  on  any  man's  toes ;  but  be  equally 
careful,  my  boy,  that  no  man  steps  on  yours.  It  has  been  my 
rule  of  conduct  through  life,  and  I  have  never  regretted  it." 

The  remark  is  given  for  a  purpose.  Id  earlier  manhood 
he  had  a  close  kinsman  and  bosom-friend,  though  differing  in 
politics.  In  an  evil  hour  a  deadly  insult  was  passed,  which 
only  blood  could  atone.  With  high  attainments,  keen  sense  of 
honor,  and  blood  the  bluest  of  the  blue,  it  was  well  under- 
stood that  one  or  the  other  had  to  die.  Dr.  Archer,  as  was 
well  known,  made  every  possible  effort  to  avert  the  inevitable, 
even  apologizing  on  "the  field"  and  imploring  his  kinsman 
to  pause  and  consider.  The  first  shot  settled  all  difficulties, 
and  somJ  there  were  who  felt  inclined  to  envy  the  man  who 
had  caught  the  bullet,  for  thence  on  the  other  was  rarely 
known  to  smile;  and  yet  it  is  hard  to  believe  that  the  con- 
science of  the  survivor  reproached  him  for  what  was  done. 
The  remark  given  above  is  in  support  of  that  conviction.  The 
necessity  of  the  act,  doubtless,  embittered  his  subsequent  life, 
"grand,  gloomy,  and  peculiar"  as  it  was. 

Such  was  the  man  whom  my  father  selected  for  my  mentor 
at  a  most  impressionable  period  of  young  life,  while  he  was 
in  New  York  superintending  the  publication  of  his  book, 
"The  Mier  Expedition."  I  honored  him  then,  and  honor 
him  dow,  for  one  of  the  bravest,  straightest  and  brainiest 
gentlemen  whom  it  has  been  my  good  fortune  to  know.  Per- 
haps he  was  not  a  shining  light,  according  to  the  modern 
acceptation  of  the  term.  He  could  not  have  made  his  million 
or  millions,  for  the  simple  reason  that  he  despised  super- 
fluous wealth  and  its  possessors,  and  was  essentially  a  high 
type  of  God's  noblest  handiwork — an  honest  man.      It  was 

[50] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

not  in  him  to  attain  high  political  preferment,  because  he 
would  have  scorned  policy  &«.  too  near  akin  to  falsehood  or 
subterfuge.  "He  would  not  flatter  Neptune  for  his  trident, 
or  Jove  for  his  power  to  thunder" ;  far  be  it  from  pot-house 
politicians  and  self-constituted  village  Warwicks  His  was 
a  plane  far  above  the  reach  of  such  things  as  these. 

Upon  Dr.  Archer's  departure  I  was  transferred  to  a  board- 
ing-house nearly  opposite  (a  Mrs.  Porter,  unless  mistaken), 
mainly  taken  up  by  members  of  Congress  without  their  fami- 
lies. One  of  these  kept  a  sort  of  supervisory  outlook  over  me, 
at  my  father's  request.  He  was  then  in  the  prime  of  life, 
about  thirty-seven  years  of  age,  and  a  widower — a  new  mem- 
ber, and  comparatively  unknown.  Before  two  decades  had 
rolled  around,  his  name  and  fame  were  resounding  around 
the  world.  He  was  my  friend  then,  as  he  was  ever  after. 
More  of  him  further  on.  Suffice  it  now  that  his  name  was 
Davis. 

It  should  have  been  said  that  before  quitting  the  United 
States  Hotel  I  had  been  brought  to  know  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  men — it  is  needless  to  add  greatest,  when  his  name 
is  called — of  this  or  any  preceding  century.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Calhoun  had  rooms  on  the  same  floor,  and  only  two  or  three 
doors  from  ours.  With  loving  womanly  impulse,  the  good 
lady  took  me  in  hand  and  would  have  me  in  her  parlor  every 
evening  or  two,  whilst  her  grand  husband  would  be  looking 
over  his  papers.  Notwithstanding  the  weighty  matters  with 
which  he  was  always  burthened,  he  usually  found  time  during 
the  course  of  my  stay  to  address  a  few  kindly  remarks  to  me, 
and  yet  he  was,  as  I  have  since  learned,  the  biggest  man  in 
the  world.  Intercourse  with  others  of  high  kindred  nature 
has  led  up  to  the  conclusion  that  simplicity  is  ever  one  of  the 
predominant  attributes  of  the  loftiest  natures.  Reading  and 
reflection  confirm  the  conclusion. 

In  the  galaxy  of  immortals  with  whom  it  has  been  my 

[51] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

proud  privilege  to  be  brought  into  casual  contact,  and  the 
friendship  of  some  of  whom  I  have  enjoyed,  I  place  unhesi- 
tatingly the  last  two,  Calhoun  and  Davis,  as  easily  first  in 
profundity  of  political  thought  and  lucidity  of  expression  and 
inculcation.  Their  great  preceptor,  Jefferson,  was,  of  course, 
the  equal  of  either,  as  he  was  the  superior  of  all  their  prede- 
cessors in  these  high  attributes.  Patriotism,  purity  of  life, 
and  self-abnegation  at  the  mandate  of  principle,  were  the 
other  crowning  life  jewels  in  the  two  I  knew.  Of  course,  the 
estimate  formed  of  these  illustrious  men  is  derived  from  sub- 
sequent reading  and  reflection.  Their  teachings  and  moni- 
tions have  been  the  political  vade  mecum  of  my  life.  Jack- 
son and  Calhoun  constituted,  beyond  a  doubt,  as  long  as  it 
lasted,  the  strongest  and  most  marked  presidential  combina- 
tion that  the  country  has  ever  known,  each  conspicuous  for 
strong,  unbending  will-power  and  native  intellect  of  the  high- 
est order,  the  last  but  partially  cultivated  in  the  first,  but 
carried  to  a  pitch  of  refinement  and  absolute  governmental 
brain  culture  in  the  other.  It  is  not  strange  that  it  proved 
an  incongruous  and  ill-assorted  team,  in  spite  of  the  superla- 
tives ascribed  to  each.  Paramount  intellect  and  lofty  patriot- 
ism were  neutralized  by  unyielding  self-will  in  both,  greatly 
to  the  cost  of  constitutional  government  ever  since.  Calhoun 
was  superseded  and  set  aside — tell  it  not  in  Gath,  publish  it 
not  in  Askelon — by  Martin  Van  Buren,  as  successor. 

Such  is  my  deliberate  estimate  of  those  last  two  great 
moulders  of  political  thought,  John  C.  Calhoun  and  Jefferson 
Davis  (omitting  Thomas  Jefferson),  whom  over-cultured  and 
dogmatic  New  England  would  fain  consign  to  the  lumber- 
room  of  political  failures.  Possibly,  in  the  thousand  years 
to  follow,  that  complacent  section  may  be  able  by  strenuous 
effort  to  evolve  one  such.  So  far,  she  and  her  congeners  have 
not  approximated  in  production  either  of  the  immortal  trium- 
virate of  political  thinkers  and  teachers.     Nay,  more :    it  h 

[52] 


AX   ATJTO   OF   HALF   A   CENTUET   AXD   MOKE. 

doubtful  whether  Old  England,  in  her  palmiest  period,  the 
closing  half  of  the  eighteenth  and  first  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  can  furnish  such  a  historical  parallel  of  transcendent 
genius  in  the  most  exalted  field  of  intellectual  development. 
This  marvelous  outcrop,  of  itself,  should  forever  shame  and 
silence  the  scoffs  and  sneers  of  witlings  and  fools  as  to  the 
demoralizing  effects  of  African  slavery  on  the  moral  and 
intellectual  outcome  of  the  ruling  race — stereotyped  absurdity 
of  assinine  assumption  and  self-satisfied  stupidity. 

In  Mr.  Davis  the  world  recognizes  the  efficient  actor,  as 
well  as  the  profound  thinker — the  grandest  Revolutionist  of 
all  time,  according  to  the  Honorable  Mr.  Roebuck  in  the 
House  of  Commons. 

It  was  no  mean  privilege  to  have  had  this  grand  man  for 
friend  in  my  boyhood  days,  and  to  have  that  friendship  con- 
tinue to  the  end  of  his  life.  As  proof  of  this,  he  bequeathed 
me  his  ink-stand  as  memento  in  the  closing  hours  of  his  well- 
rounded  life.  From  its  sable  contents  were  transmitted  to 
paper  the  emanations  of  his  glorious  soul.  It  is  a  priceless 
heirloom  to  me,  as  I  trust  it  will  be  to  my  grandson  and  his. 
The  best  wish  that  can  go  with  it  is  that  he  and  they,  in  suc- 
cession, may  take  the  donor  for  model  and  exemplar,  and 
make  their  lives  conform  as  near  to  his  in  aim  and  lofty 
aspiration  as  may  be.  Let  it  be  a  stimulus  ever  to  noble 
effort. 


[53] 


CHAPTER  VI. 

In  the  early  part  of  1846  I  was  entered  at  my  first  board- 
ing school,  Georgetown  College  (now  University).  From  the 
first  it  was  evident  that  the  strict  monastic  rule  and  ritual  of 
that  institution  did  not  comport  to  my  taste  and  the  genius 
of  a  peculiar  constitution.  And  yet,  at  the  expiration  of  six 
months,  I  was  very  summarily  transferred  therefrom  by 
paternal  mandate  in  apprehension  that  a  longer  continued 
stay  might  lead  to  counter-bias,  to  the  point,  in  fact,  of  becom- 
ing a  novitiate  in  the  noble  order  of  Loyola.  Looking  back, 
after  the  lapse  of  time,  methinks  his  apprehensions  were 
entirely  groundless. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  the  "governor"  (if  the  Lord  will  forgive 
me  the  use,  for  the  first  and  last  time,  of  the  low,  vulgar, 
slang  expression  of  mannish  young  America  as  applied  to  the 
author  of  their  being)  was  scared,  and  issued  unmistakable 
orders  to  "pack  up  my  traps  and  get  out  of  that  den  of 
Jesuits."  The  order  was  most  acceptable,  and  was  obeyed 
with  alacrity.  It  is  written,  the  school  was  not  to  my  liking. 
In  justice  to  the  school,  and  in  perfect  candor,  it  must  be 
confessed  that  after  sampling  some  half  a  dozen  others,  it 
was  not  my  good  fortune  to  acquire  a  hankering  for  any. 

Possibly  my  rough  initiation  in  the  rudimentary  branches 
of  education,  to  which  allusion  was  made  in  passing,  is  mainly 
responsible  for  deep-seated  antipathy  to  pedants,  pundits,  and 
high  scholastics  later  on.  Of  course,  such  a  confession  is  dis- 
creditable, but  it  is  honest  truth,  and  that  passes,  without 
question,  as  better  far  than  a  gilded  lie.  In  extenuation,  will 
add  that,  whilst  an  enforced  curriculum  of  cut-and-dried  text- 
books went  ever  against  the  grain,  I  have,  nevertheless,  been 
through  life  an  unremitting  student  and  investigator,  based 
on  solid,  not  superficial,  research,  history  and  its  concomi- 

[54] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOKE. 

tants — biography,  travel,  essays,  memoirs,  approved  poetry, 
and  an  occasional  dip,  by  way  of  interlude  and  recreation, 
into  the  great  romancers  of  the  stature  of  Thackeray  (greatest 
of  them  all),  Scott,  Fielding,  Boccacio,  Cervantes,  Bulwer7 
Dickens,  Lever,  George  Eliot,  Hawthorne,  Poe,  Lesage, 
Cooper,  and  a  few  others  of  kindred  calibre,  not  forgetting 
dear  old  Miss  Porter  of  blessed  juvenile  days.  Of  course, 
the  list  would  be  incomplete  if  it  did  not  embrace  the  old, 
now  almost  unread  English  classics.  Some  of  these  must 
needs  come  in.  What  1  Leave  out  ''The  Vicar"  and  "Rasse- 
las"  ?  Why,  I  would  as  soon  leave  out  Colonel  Esmond, 
Colonel  Newcome,  Captain  Shandy,  the  old  convict  in  Les 
Miserables,  or  Captain  Crusoe.  Have  rarely  taken  much 
stock  in  the  so-called  "current  literature  of  the  day,"  unless 
kidnapped  into  something  of  the  sort  by  my  good  wife,  who 
is  not  only  the  best  woman  in  the  world  in  all  other  respects, 
but  one  of  the  most  omniverous  readers  and  judicious  critics 
whom  I  have  ever  known.  "Just  let  me  read  you  a  page," 
she  begins,  and  that  always  means  the  book.  Have  gotten 
much  mighty  good  reading  that  way. 

There  was  drilled  into  my  noddle  at  school,  or  rather 
schools,  the  usual  amount  of  stereotyped  pedagogic  pabulum, 
including  the  preliminary  classics  and  higher  mathematics, 
belles-lettres,  ethics,  political  economy,  French,  and  the  law 
courses,  etc.  Upon  such  an  incongruous  foundation  it  was 
mine  to  build  the  superstructure  of  an  imperfect  education, 
after  closing  the  academic  doors  behind.  That  there  were 
glorious  opportunities  neglected  shall  not  be  denied,  but  that 
there  were  shoals  that  were  shunned  can  be  truly  claimed. 

After  being  given  the  whole  scope  of  schools  from  which  to 
make  choice,  and  tried  many,  too  many,  it  can  be  truthfully 
said  that  whilst  rarely  classed  amongst  the  "first  mite  men" 
in  any  study,  having  by  instinct  a  no  exalted  estimate  of  col- 
lege honors,  I,  nevertheless,  escaped  with  but  slight  attaint  or 

[55] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

suspicion  of  college  contamination,  and  ever  of  low  or  un-> 
worthy  association.  This  last  I  have  tried  to  keep  up  through 
life. 

^Neither  dicer  nor  drinker  did  I  learn  to  be  in  that  ordeal 
period  of  life,  although  inducements  were  not  wanting.  For 
the  last  I  have  ever  felt  the  keenest  pity.  For  the  other  class 
(yclept,  the  gambler)  loathing  and  scorn,  far  surpassing  that 
entertained  for  the  "gentleman-highwayman."  Nor  is  such 
contempt  confined  to  the  "professional,"  the  sleight-of-hand 
man  who  is  up  to  little  tricks,  like  slipping  a  card  up  the 
sleeve,  or  loaded  cubes  accessible.  The  thimble-rigging  fra- 
ternity is  but  the  parent  stock  of  a  kindred  class  a  thousand 
times  more  baneful  and  pernicious,  the  light-fingered  brother 
who  can  on  the  Stock  Exchange  despoil  thousands  to  swell 
his  plethoric  horde  of  millions.  Yes !  give  us  bold  Turpin 
every  time  to  the  wheedling  rogue,  who  mercilessly  despoils 
widows,  orphans  and  confiding  friends  by  superior  sharp 
practice.  This  class  may  have  its  utility  in  the  public  weal, 
just  as  the  small-fry  jeremy-diddler,  the  centipede,  the  vam- 
pire, and  the  bed-bug  may  have  in  the  animal  economy,  but 
there  are  some  folks  who  cannot  exactly  see  it. 

Recurring  to  foregone  estimate  of  college  honors,  the  sub- 
sequent may  as  well  be  here  premised.  From  candid  state- 
ment here  given,  and  further  to  follow,  it  can  hardly  be  in- 
ferred that  I  have  ever  set  undue  value  on  such  puerilities, 
or  kindred  trivialities  later  on,  all  of  which,  at  the  turning- 
point  of  "life's  fitful  dream,"  have  been,  and  are  still,  held 
in  due  subordination.  Reason  for  contempt  of  academic  lau- 
rels has  already  been  forecast  in  part,  viz.,  instinctive  repug- 
nance to  pedagogic  tyranny  and  assinine  assumption  on  the 
part  of  the  wielders  of  the  ferule,  both  of  high  and  low  de- 
gree. Perhaps,  the  feeling  was  intensified  by  comparison  oft- 
times  between  the  winner  of  school-boy  honors  in  the  curricu- 

[56] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

lum  and  the  champion  of  those  later  on  in  the  hard  tussle  of 
actual  life. 

Perchance  such  sentiments  may  be  deemed  heterodox  and 
ill-advised,  especially  by  those  of  the  professor-torial  frater- 
nity, whose  name  is  legion,  beginning  with  the  old-time  domi- 
nie, puffed  up  with  a  little  brief  authority,  and  the  learned 
Doctor  Profundus  LL.D.,  of  the  University  of  all  the  Ologies. 
Professors  all  they  are  to-day,  from  the  imp  who  shines  your 
boots  to  the  other  artist  who  lathers  your  face.  The  learned 
Porson  was  nothing  more ! 

I  believed  then,  and  know  now,  that  in  natural  ability  I 
was  the  match,  and  more,  of  most  of  my  school-mates,  but 
realize,  in  looking  backwards  and  taking  a  retrospective  glance 
over  the  sad  field  of  "might-have-beens,"  both  then  and  since, 
that  many  of  them  possessed  an  attribute  far  more  essential  in 
the  long  race,  known  as  stability,  as  contradistinguished  from 
ability.  Bear  it  in  mind  ever,  O  son,  both  in  the  class-room 
and  in  the  far  more  important  struggle  to  follow. 

Father  ^Esop  was  right  in  one  of  the  many  instructive  sto- 
ries he  tells — the  one  about  the  foot-race  between  the  tortoise 
and  the  hare.  Slow-plodding  perseverance  is  almost  sure  to 
tell  against  rabbit-foot,  if  not  in  a  quarter  race,  in  the  elonga- 
ted life  race,  which  is  most  unerring  test  of  "bottom."  Stick 
to  stability,  and  cultivate  -'bottom,"  my  boy,  if  you  would  win 
success  in  life's  handicap  or  the  globe-trotter's  merry-go- 
round.  Or,  if  you  are  of  sporting  proclivities,  back  the  terra- 
pin every  time  for  his  staying  qualities — slow,  but  sure. 
Close  observation  has  led  unerringly  to  that  conclusion,  de- 
spite celerity  and  scintillation  of  start  on  the  part  of  com- 
petitors. 

Although  laying  only  moderate  claim  to  "Molly  Hare's" 
facility  of  getting  over  ground,  it  will  nevertheless  be  borne 
in  mind  that  a  modest  arrogance  has  been  set  up  on  claim  of 
average  ability.  And  yet  in  the  metaphorical  scrub-race  re- 
ts?] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

ferred  to,  candor  compels  the  admission  that  I  have  seen  the 
veriest  mud-turtles,  creepers  and  crawlers,  give  me  the  go-by 
and  grasp  the  puny  prizes  most  excitant  to  mundane  effort 
and  emulation.  And  so,  if  you  would  carry  off  the  "Grand 
Prix,"  my  boy,  on  which  your  heart  is  set,  be  it  professional 
or  political  fame,  accumulation  of  useless  horde,  or  sublime 
official  head  of  "My  Lord  High  Executioner,"  or,  descending 
from  the  sublime  to  the  ridiculous,  "My  Lord  High  Village 
Patronizer,"  who,  like  inflated  Malvolio's  "I  extend  my  hand 
to  him  thus"  (every  little  town  has  one  such  factotum),  exult- 
ing in  the  serenity  of  his  sublimity.  Young  man,  whichever 
of  these  Himalayan  altitudes  you  propose  to  climb,  follow 
the  recipe  here  enjoined,  and  you  will  be  apt  to  reach  it,  be  it 
the  pinnacle  of  President  or  patronizer  or  moneyed  potentate. 
First,  make  deliberate  selection  of  the  cloud-capped  summit 
you  would  scale,  and  then  fix  an  eye  single  on  the  topmost 
peak,  and  go  for  it  with  the  tortoise  for  exemplar.  Crawl 
and  creep,  and  on  occasion  cringe,  and  you  will  get  there. 


[58] 


■ 
: 


I 


■ 


- 


ach  it,  be 

sunaii 
ij 


CHAPTER  VII. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  last-named  year,  or,  to  be  precise, 
on  the  twenty-fourth  day  of  October,  1846,  occurred  an  event 
which  has  had  the  most  material  and  important  bearing  on 
all  my  subsequent  life.  On  that  day  my  father  was  married 
to  his  second  wife,  Mrs.  Adeline  Ellery,  of  Boston.  She  was 
the  widow  of  John  S.  Ellery,  of  that  city,  who  was  one  of  the 
most  successful  business  men  of  his  day.  A  woman  of  re- 
markably fine  personal  appearance,  and  of  the  kindliest,  gent- 
lest nature  that  I  have  almost  ever  known.  For  eight  and 
thirty  years  thereafter,  she  was  my  mother,  not  only  in  name, 
but  in  maternal  love  and  all  else,  barring  the  ties  of  nature. 
She  was  ever  indulgent  to  the  follies  and  foibles  of  her  self- 
willed  step-son,  and  ever  ready  with  motherly  judicious  coun- 
sel. The  only  compensation  in  my  power  was  paid  to  the 
full, — in  filial  affection  to  this  noble  woman. 

Although  much  given  to  society,  her  charity  was  universal 
and  unbounded,  but  not  always  judicious.  While  of  ample 
means,  her  pension  list  was  ever  disproportionate  to  income, 
and  yet  she  was  not  a  religionist  in  the  ordinary  acceptation 
of  the  term.  Such  as  it  was,  I  would  not  exchange  it  for 
that  of  the  Sorbonne  or  an  ordinary  Consistory  or  College 
of  Cardinals. 

She  and  my  father  were  almost  of  the  same"  age  (forty- 
four),  and  of  remarkable  congeniality  of  tastes.  Most  of 
the  time  was  passed  in  travel  and  at  hotels.  They  were  a 
remarkably  fine-looking  couple,  and  always  moved  in  highest 
circles,  not  of  the  dollar-and-cent  variety  as  standard. 

The  wedding  took  place  in  Grace  Church,  New  York,  Rev. 
Dr.  Taylor  officiating.  By  inadvertence  or  oversight,  the 
stereotyped  head-lines  of  the  modern  newspaperial  chronicler 
are  omitted,  to-wit,  'the  large  and  fashionable  audience,'  'the 

[59] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

grande  marche  from  Hohenzollern  and  hautboys/  and  ushers 
of  the  blackrod,  and  all  of  the  other  et  ceteras  and  concomi- 
tants on  such  occasions  essential.  Any  village  newspaper 
nowadays  can  supply  such  material  and  all-important  omis- 
sions. 

A  gawky  country  lad  of  fifteen  can  hardly  be  thought  to 
have  been  "au  fait"  in  dilettante  literature  of  this  high  order 
over  half  a  century  ago.  All  that  comes  back  now  is  that  the 
aforesaid  lad  and  a  sweet,  spoilt  little  blonde  girl  of  seven 
walked  just  behind  the  high  contracting  parties,  as  quasi  "con- 
sentors  and  givers-away."  Ten  or  twelve  years  later  on  the 
performance  was  repeated,  but  the  performers  were  re- 
versed,— the  boy  and  girl  taking  the  leading  roles.  Each  was 
an  only  child. 

Between  the  two  weddings  I  saw  little  of  the  family  thus 
augmented,  except  for  brief  space  at  long  intervals.  A  child 
was  the  result  of  the  first  marriage  a  year  or  so  later,  but 
died  in  infancy ;  and  so  there  was  no  additional  connecting 
link  between  the  little  girl  and  the  boy  until  the  second  event 
came  on,  each  being  much  over-spoilt  by  respective  step- 
parent, the  girl  especially  by  hers.  If  she  had  been  his  own 
flesh  and  blood,  he  could  not  have  indulged  her  more.  Every 
wish,  whim  and  caprice  had  to  be  gratified,  regardless  of  con- 
sequences. The  result,  as  might  have  been  foreseen,  was 
a  very  deficient  and  imperfect  education,  with  a  no  hesitating 
assertion  of  self-will  in  dealing  with  others.  How  she  and  I 
got  along  as  well  as  we  did  in  after  life  can  only  be  explained 
upon  the  principle  of  mutual  forbearance  and  concession,  su- 
perinduced in  each  by  the  recognized  necessity  of  it. 

I  was  fully  conscious  that  she  had  been  gratified  and 
indulged  to  the  extreme  limit,  and  felt  the  propriety  of  its 
continuance  in  all  rational  regards,  believing  then,  as  I  do 
now,  that  she  loved  me  with  her  full  and  entire  heart.  As 
illustration  of  this,  let  it  be  mentioned  to  her  eternal  credit 

f601 


AN   AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOKE. 

that  when  the  immediate  forecast  of  coming  events  pointed, 
unmistakably,  to  war  between  the  States,  she  urged  her  hus- 
band to  obey  the  call  of  duty  and  his  sense  of  honor  in 
espousing  side,  clearly  giving  him  to  understand  that  in  her 
belief  he  had  resolved  on  the  right  course.  She  further  pro- 
claimed her  willingness  to  put  up  with  plantation  provision 
as  long  as  he  could  remain  in  camp. 

But  two  or  three  years  later  on  came  the  supremest  test  of 
inborn  truth  and  wifely  devotion.  On  the  eve  of  the  mighti- 
est of  all  conflicts  precaution  was  taken  to  retain  two  or  three 
of  the  very  ablest  lawyers  in  Boston  to  look  after  her  interests 
and  guard  against  the  possibilities  of  confiscation.  In  the 
latter  part  of  1864,  while  a  prisoner  of  war  on  Johnson's 
Island,  I  received  what  might  be  construed  into  a  conjoint 
letter  from  these  three  distinguished  and  most  worthy  gentle- 
men, in  effect  as  follows :  "Urge  your  wife  to  come  on  at 
once,  if  you  wish  to  stave  off  threatened,  if  not  imminent, 
danger."  Well  I  knew  the  portent  of  that  dread  message, 
but  followed  the  wiser  course,  as  it  turned  out,  in  responding — 
submitted  it  to  my  little  wife. 

Conscious  I  was  that  her  re  joiner  would  be  in  accord  with 
my  desire,  as  it  proved.  It  was  to  all  intents,  slightly  ampli- 
fied, that  of  the  lovely  and  poetic  Ruth — "His  people  shall  be 
my  people,"  etc.,  and  "we'll  live  on  hog  and  hominy  awhile 
longer  whilst  patriot  heroes  are  battling  for  their  rights."  The 
grandeur  of  her  resolve  rises  into  the  moral  sublime,  when  it 
is  stated  that  it  was  taken  entirely  of  her  own  volition  and 
that  the  estate  involved  was  close  to  a  half-million  dollars 
and,  as  I  learned  later,  proceedings  of  confiscation  had  actu- 
ally been  begun,  which,  through  the  instrumentality  of  my 
honored  friends,  General  Caleb  Cushing,  Judge  Levi  Wood- 
bury, and  Hon.  Benjamin  Dean,  were  continued  from  term 
to  term,  and  never  reached  judgment  until  it  was  too  late  for 
it  to  be  rendered. 

[61] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

An  anecdote  leading  up  to  this  result  may,  perchance,  be 
introduced  further  on.  Let  it  be  added,  that  all  this  while 
she  was  like  all  of  her  neighbors  practically  destitute  of  the 
commonest  comforts,  if  not  necessaries,  of  life,  such  as  tea, 
coffee,  sugar^  salt,  calico,  etc.  Such  was  the  outlook  on  the 
plantation  !  Ease  and  affluence  and  boundless  luxury  across 
the  Potomac ! 

Without  my  knowledge  she  had  previously  disposed  of  her 
wedding  jewels  in  order  to  bridge  over  pressing  necessities 
and  make  both  ends  meet  at  home,  whilst  extending  a  helping 
hand  to  her  still  more  needy  friends  and  neighbors.  All 
this  was  done  in  the  seclusion  of  quiet  country  life,  and  with- 
out the  slightest  attempt  at  parade  or  ostentation.  It  may 
well  be  questioned  whether  in  those  dark  days  of  long  suffering 
by  our  brave,  noble,  heroic  women,  any  bore  the  inevitable 
hardships  of  the  dread  ordeal  more  uncomplainingly  than 
she ;  and  yet  she  was,  as  it  then  stood,  of  foreign  and  hostile 
lineage,  inured  to  all  the  comforts  and  luxuries  of  life,  within 
her  reach  at  any  time  to  resume.  If  marital  veto  had  been 
interposed,  ground  would  have  been  broken  for  ninety-and- 
nine  full-fledged  divorce  suits  in  the  regions  of  thoughtless 
marriage  and  loose  morals.  God  bless  her  innocent,  simple 
soul !  She  never  thought  of  availing  herself  of  such  a  glori- 
ous opportunity.  In  her  plain  and  simple  faith,  vows  were 
vows  to  her,  whether  pledged  to  an  unworthy  husband  or  to 
the  God  of  John  Wesley,  in  whose  faith  she  lived  and  died. 
She  died  June  15,  1883,  having  been  the  mother  of  four 
children,  three  of  whom  still  survive  her. 


[62] 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

In  the  beginning  of  1847,  I  was  placed  at  the  school  of  Mr. 
J".  M.  Lovejoy,  known  as  the  North  Carolina  Military 
Academy,  located  in  Raleigh,  to  be  put  in  a  state  of  prepara- 
tion for  one  of  the  leading  universities  of  this  country  or 
England.  It  was  then  one  of  the  most  flourishing  schools 
in  the  South.  Mr.  Lovejoy  was  a  ripe  scholar,  supported  by 
competent  assistants,  a  worthy  man  in  the  main,  and  a  rigid 
disciplinarian  of  the  'old  school.'  It  was  an  unseemly  boast 
of  his  that  he  had  never  promised  a  boy  or  a  full-fledged  man, 
of  whom  there  were  many  under  his  sway,  a  flagellation  with- 
out inflicting  it,  and  tradition  of  the  boys  bore  him  out. 
There  was  one  boy,  however,  to  whom  that  promise  was 
unfulfilled ;  he  very  courteously  told  the  promising  party  that 
he  had  for  long  had  a  lurking  suspicion  that  in  his  day  and 
generation  he  had  been  the  recipient  of  an  overplus  of  the 
extract  of  birch,  and  did  not  propose  to  take  another  dose. 
Am  glad  to  say  the  good  man  held  a  restraining  hand. 

It  may  thus  be  surmised  that  too  much  congeniality  of  tem- 
perament was  not  conducive  to  long  protracted  relationship. 
Still  there  was  a  sort  of  mutual  forbearance  maintained  for  a 
year  and  a  half,  when  another  transfer  took  place,  this 
time,  to  a  select  preparatory  school  four  miles  from  Boston, 
Massachusetts,  kept  by  Mr.  Stephen  M.  Weld,  limited  to 
thirty  students.  He  was  a  man  of  thrift  and  large  wealth, 
and  would  seem  to  have  chosen  the  profession  of  pedagogics 
more  as  a  whim  or  pastime  than  from  choice  or  necessity. 
He  was  a  man  of  refinement,  judicious  reading,  and  correct 
conclusions,  barring  a  pronounced  drift  to  Federalism.  For 
this  political  indiscretion,  however,  there  was. the  extenuation 
of  his  being  a  native  of  Boston  and  an  eleve  of  Harvard. 
Natural    sequence,    as   all   good   Bostonians   go   to   Harvard 

[63] 


EECOLLECTIONS  AND  DEFLECTIONS. 

before  they  die,  and,  as  a  rule,  emerge  therefrom  thoroughly 
tinctured  with  Hamiltonianism,  Blue  Law  intolerance,  Hart- 
ford Convention  indoctrination,  and  other  kindred  fallacies. 
Such  political  heresies  may  do  for  boys  before  they  die,  but 
how  after  ?  It  makes  me  tremble  in  advanced  age  to  think 
what  a  narrow  escape  was  mine  in  escaping  this  one  college, 
before  death,  by  a  lucky  concatenation  of  circumstances, 
later  on  to  follow. 

Omitting  the  rationale  of  political  beliefs,  in  which  I  was 
vain  enough  to  think,  and  to  still  think,  myself  magister,  he 
was  the  best  instructor  that  ever  had  me  in  hand,  and  instilled 
more  from  text  books  than  all  the  others  combined.  This 
was  not  due  so  much  to  his  depth  of  research  as  to  non- 
assumption  and  faculty  of  explaining.  A  stupid  ignoramous 
assumes  that  the  boy  should  comprehend  by  intuition  all  of 
the  whys  and  wherefores  of  the  parroty  lesson  recited,  because 
forsooth  it  is  now  plain  to  his  comprehension  after  days,  and 
maybe  weeks,  of  study  and  secret  investigation  on  his  part  to 
master;  and  so,  perhaps,  the  boy  makes  a  perfect  recitation 
of  words  as  Poll  the  parrot  does,  and  comprehends  about  as 
much  of  the  underlying  meaning. 

Intellectual  teachers  argue  otherwise,  and  of  that  class 
was  Stephen  M.  Weld,  who  recognize  the  transcendent 
importance  of  their  calling  and  discharge  it  accordingly. 
License  'the  fool-killer'  to  ply  his  vocation  on  the  rest  of  the 
fraternity,  from  the  horn-book  consequential,  who  teaches 
reading  writin',  spellin',  and  'rithmetic,  to  the  learned  Dr. 
Profundus  of  the  Faculty.  Many  of  these  know  what  they 
do  know  or  profess  to  know,  but  do  not  know  how  to  impart 
it — logarithms  without  the  key. 

Mr.  Weld  had  the  faculty  of  instilling  into  others  what  he 
knew  himself,  as  proof  of  which,  he  had  me  thoroughly  pre- 
pared for  the  entering  class  at  Harvard  in  a  little  over  a  year, 
and  it  was  a  moot  question  between  us,  never  decided,  whether 

[64] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

not  to  apply  for  entry  into  the  class  above,  then  known  as  the 
sophomore.  He  inclined  to  think  I  was-  prepared  for  the 
higher.  The  simple  fact  is  stated  more  as  tribute  to  a  worthy 
man  and  competent  and  conscientious  instructor,  than  any 
claim  to  readiness  of  inception  on  the  part  of  the  pupil.  He 
understood  his  calling  and  knew  how  to  impart  what  he  knew, 
and  hence  was  an  efficient  teacher.  Would  there  were  more 
of  that  sort  in  the  world ! 

His  mode  of  instruction  was  no  less  oral  than  textual.  At 
table,  where  he  usually  occupied  the  place  of  honor,  it  was  his 
custom  to  start  a  discussion  on  some  interesting  or  intricate 
topic  with  a  view  to  ascertain  and  develop  the  extent  of  and 
line  of  thought  of  the  boys  around  him,  inviting  free  and 
untrammeled  interchange  of  sentiment  and  opinion.  Being 
of  an  argumentative  and  inquiring  turn  of  mind,  he  and  I 
were  not  infrequently  the  disputants  on  opposing  sides,  for  I 
was  silly  enough  to  believe  that  he  attached  considerable 
weight  to  my  views  and  judgment.  And  so  he  and  I  ofttimes 
had  a  monopoly  of  forensic  disputation  during  the  entire 
meal  to  our  mutual  delectation,  if  not  always  to  that  of  the 
two  dozen  other  boys  sitting  around.  I  am  fain  to  believe  that, 
for  a  wonder,  I  was  his  favorite  pupil.  The  novelty  of  the 
thing  made  me  more  considerate  in  preconceived  hostile  bias. 
While  undergoing  collegiate  preparation,  he  and  I  would 
take  after-breakfast  walks  through  the  village  to  a  little  grove 
a  mile  out,  where  taking  seats  in  the  shade  he  would  produce 
a  small  Greek  or  Latin  Classic,  and  put  me  through  a  rigid 
reviewal  to  judge  of  my  competency. 

While  so  engaged,  news  came  that  a  much  coveted  cadet 
appointment  to  West  Point  was  within  reach.  Forthwith 
the  classics  were  discarded  and  all  of  our  efforts  turned  to 
mathematics,  which  had  ever  been  my  bete  noire,  or  stumb- 
ling block,  from  the  multiplication-table  to  conic  sections  and 
analytical  geometry.  An  ugly  outlook  ahead  that ! 
5  [65] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

Entrance  to  the  Military  Academy  had  long  been  the  cher- 
ished wish  of  my  young  life's  dream,  but  had  been  virtually 
abandoned,  for  a  double  reason;  the  first  being  my  father's 
strong  antipathy  to  the  step,  and  the  other,  my  having  no 
fixed  home  and  habitation  or  State  from  which  to  set  up  right 
of  claim.  And  so  all  thought  of  it  had  been  given  up. 
Suddenly,  the  hope  revived  again ! 

My  father,  in  his  various  meanderings  and  State-building 
migrations,  had  drifted  out  to  California  with  the  Forty- 
niners,  on  the  gold  quest  of  the  year  so  indicated.  Shortly 
after  arriving,  he  was  elected  to  the  State  Senate  of  the  first 
Legislature  of  that  incipient  State,  and  was  prominently 
spoken  of  as  likely  to  be  one  of  the  first  two  United  States 
Senators,  withdrawing,  however,  on  the  eve  of  the  election  in 
favor  of  his  friend  Dr.  William  M.  Gwin,  who  was  elected 
with  John  C.  Fremont  as  his  colleague. 

Here  was  my  opportunity.  Father  at  last  consented  to 
oft-repeated  request,  and  the  entire  Congressional  delegation 
backed  the  application  for  my  appointment.  But  here  a  new 
obstacle  arose.  Up  to  the  June  examination  of  candidates  for 
admission  California  had  not  been  admitted  into  the  Union. 
There  was  the  chance  of  its  being  before  the  September 
ordeal. 

By  way  of  explanation,  be  it  understood  that  there  is 
usually  a  small  per  centage  of  every  class  of  candidates 
(usually  about  ten)  who,  from  unavoidable  cause,  having  been 
prevented  from  putting  in  an  appearance  in  the  June  trial, 
are  permitted  to  stand  test  in  September.  These  are,  with- 
out disparagement,  ever  after  known  as  "Septs." 

Inasmuch  as  my  State  was  not  a  State  in  June,  I  was 
necessarily  relegated  to  the  "Septs,"  three  months  later  on, 
and  barely  saved  distance  then.  September  was  drawing  on 
apace,  and  yet  my  State  was  still  not  a  State.  At  that  crucial 
stage  came  in  illustration  of  the  old  saw,  a  'friend  at  court', 

[66] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOEE. 

freely  rendered  a  friend  at  the  head  of  the  War  Office.  Gen- 
eral Winfield  Scott  was,  ad  interim,  Secretary  of  War,  and 
he  and  my  father  fortunately  at  that  time  were  in  close  social 
relationship.  The  old  General  was  then,  on  emergency,  what 
might  be  termed  a  modified  'strict  Constructionist.'  Whilst 
too  much  of  a  stickler  for  the  'Articles  of  War,'  even  in  incon- 
sequentials,  to  furnish  shadow  of  excuse  for  breach  of  their 
slightest  infinitesimal  in  his  subordinates,  he  did  on  special 
occasion  know  how  to  'whip  the  devil  around  the  stump.'  He 
might  be  supposed  to  have  said,  in  effect: 

No.  Inasmuch  as  young  hopeful  cannot  claim  a  State  as  basic  resi- 
dential, and  there  is  but  slight  prospect  of  his  having  one  before  exam- 
ination day  ( September  1 ) ,  he  is,  therefore,  unavoidably  debarred.  But, 
hold,  a  thought  strikes  me.  As  California  will  probably  be  admitted 
into  the  sisterhood  of  States  within  a  week  or  two,  I  will  add  a  marginal 
line  here. 

And  this  is  what  he  wrote : 

If  California  is  not  admitted  by  the  tenth  of  September,  this  appoint- 
ment to  be  null  and  void.  Winfield  Scott, 

Acting  Secretary  of  War. 

I  was  admitted  on  the  first  of  September,  and  California 
on  the  ninth  of  the  same  month,  A.  D.  1850.  A  close  shave 
that ! 

And  so  I  was  admitted  into  fellowship  to  the  most  glorious 
brotherhood  of  boys  that  the  world  has  ever  known — the  class 
of  1S50.  There  were  one  hundred  and  six  (106)  in  the 
start,  but  from  one  cause  or  another  the  number  grew  small 
by  degrees  and  beautifully  less,  until  a  bare  one-third  came 
out  with  a  commission  four  years  later  on.  Be  the  cause 
what  it  may,  I  never  knew  a  black  sheep  in  that  flock.  High- 
toned,  truthful,  and  honorable  they  all  were,  as  if  by  instinct 
Intellectual  it  was,  beyond  all  predecessors,  by  well  understood 
consensus  of  opinion  of  old  graybearded  predecessors  running 
back  nearly  half  a  century.  Heroic  it  was  to  a  high  degree, 
as  the  dozen  years  succeeding  abundantly  proved.     If  necro- 

[67] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

logic  returns  of  killed  in  conflict  then  impending  is  to  be 
taken  as  criterion,  none  could  lay  higher  claim  to  that  attri- 
bute. Major  John  T.  Greble  the  first  officer  killed  in  the 
war  (at  Bethel)  on  the  Federal  side,  was  of  the  number.  My 
friend  he  was,  and  a  gallant  gentleman.  How  many  others 
of  them  fell  on  that  side  I  am  not  fully  advised.  Many  of 
them  did,  but  I  will  mention  only  one,  and  him  with  much 
sorrow  after  the  lapse  of  time. 

One  of  my  especial  intimates  was  B.  F.  Davis,  of  Missis- 
sippi. When  the  issue  was  inevitable,  he  forgot  to  resign, 
and  reached  rapid  promotion  on  the  side  he  espoused.  Some 
there  were  who  said  that  the  promise  of  it  was  more  than  he 
could  withstand.  Far  be  it  from  me  to  impugn  his  motive 
now;  will  simply  say  that  his  selection  of  side  amazed  me 
beyond  expression  at  the  time,  for  on  the  very  verge  of  young 
manhood  he  was  one  of  the  proudest,  haughtiest,  most  stand- 
off natures  ever  known,  and  intensely  Southern  beyond  meas- 
ure. Poor  fellow,  I  loved  and  admired  him  for  those  inde- 
pendent traits  that  many  deemed  repulsive. 

As  our  brigade  was  going  in  at  Brandy  Station  (the 
second),  General  Lee  rode  up  and  gave  a  minute's  instruc- 
tions to  our  Brigadier,  General  Daniel,  than  whom  a  more 
efficient  never  lived,  the  purport  of  which  I  learned  later  on : 

Do  not  unmask  yourself  unless  exigency  imperatively  demands  it. 
This  is  only  a  feeler,  on  the  part  of  their  cavalry,  to  find  out  whether  I 
have  broken  camp  at  Fredricksburg.     Stuart  will  drive  them  back. 

Great  man !  he  rightly  divined,  and  so  kept  a  crest  of  hills 
between  his  infantry  and  the  cavalry  fight  going  on  just 
beyond  in  full  hearing. 

While  that  brief  colloquy  was  going  on,  a  young  gentleman, 
Lieutenant  Pegram,  approached  where  the  head  of  the  column 
was  halted  with  a  dead  man  in  front  of  his  saddle.  This 
proved  to  be  my  old  Colonel  and  Pegram's  brother-in-law — 
only  three  weeks  before  married  to  his  sister — Colonel  Sol 

[68] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOEE. 

Williams,  only  two  years  out  of  the  Academy.  He  was  shot 
directly  through  the  forehead.  lie  (Pegram)  said  we  had 
just  before  killed  a  General  Davis  by  precisely  a  like  shot. 
On  my  asking  where  he  was  from,  he  replied,  "Mississippi." 
I  did  not  shed  a  tear  or  feel  a  pang  at  the  death  of  my  old- 
time  friend.  The  only  reflection  was,  what  a  pity  that  he 
died  on  the  wrong  side. 

There  were  only  two  others,  nonentities  they  were,  who 
elected  to  take  the  same  course,  and  to  lend  their  swords  and 
services  to  the  foemen  of  their  kindred. 

Twelve  of  them  promptly  responded  to  natural  maternal 
call,  although  with  some  the  decision  probably  involved  bread 
and  butter  in  case  of  failure.  Xine  of  these  gallant  true- 
hearted  gentlemen  died  in  battle,  each  wearing  the  badge  of 
Confederate  General,  from  brigadier  to  the  one  just  below  the 
topmost  grade.  Bear  in  mind,  lords  and  ladies  all,  these 
were  but.  boys  as  it  were,  but,  oh,  such  glorious  boys!  Was 
ever  nobler  hecatomb  of  heroes  immolated  on  the  altar  of 
Country '?  I  loved  them  one  and  all,  and  honor  them  now, 
henceforth,  and  forever. 

Their  names  are  here  inscribed  for  fear  of  oversight  or  for- 
getfulness  later  on.  There  was  Custis  Lee,  headman  of  the 
class,  worthy  son  of  his  immortal  sire,  although  his  recogni- 
tion to  high  merit  was  not  based  on  class-standing  or  to  line- 
age running  back  for  centuries  through  an  unbroken  line  of 
gentlemen  and  heroes. 

There  was  J.  E.  B.  Stuart,  the  more  than  Rupert  of  later 
wars,  the  grandest  of  all  cavalrymen  of  all  time,  always  save 
and  excepting  Forrest.  His  pet  and  loving  soubriquet  with 
us  was  "Beauty,"  though  whom  they  got  to  put  it  on  nobody 
seems  to  know.  True,  he  was  not  an  Antinous  in  form  or 
feature,  but  neither  was  he  the  reverse  to  justify  the  title  by 
way  of  derision.  He  was  only  a  lovable  man  and  an 
unfledged  hero. 

[69] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  EEFLECTIONS. 

And  so  it  is  beyond  my  ken  to  tell  why  another  of  kindred 
attributes,  William  D.  Pender,  of  North  Carolina,  was  dubbed 
"Poll,"  but  so  he  was.  On  the  fields  of  glory,  with  which  his 
name  became  historic,  he  was  wont  to  make  his  legions  do  the 
talking  for  him. 

Stephen  D.  Lee,  the  hero  of  Vicksburg,  was  another.  Like 
the  other  Lee,  he  still  survives  (long  may  they  both!),  and 
wears  the  honor  of  being  one  of  the  three  surviving  ranking 
officers  of  the  superhuman  Confederate  Army. 

Archibald  Gracie,  a  half -Northerner  by  birth  and  more  by 
interest,  but  an  entire  Southerner  by  political  conviction  and 
whole-souled  devotion,  was  another.  He  returned  from 
Heidelberg  just  after  graduation  to  enter  the  Military 
Academy,  and  to  die  on  the  field  of  glory  a  little  later  on.  He 
it  was  who,  when  General  Lee  insisted  on  getting  on  the  para- 
pet of  the  works  about  Petersburg  to  make  a  better  observa- 
tion and  refused  to  hearken  to  the  prayers  of  his  troops  to 
come  down,  also  mounted,  and  put  himself  between  him  and 
hostile  bullets. 

John  B.  Villepigue,  of  South  Carolina,  was  the  highest 
type  of  inborn  soldier  that  I  ever  knew  in  those  early  days. 
In  manly  form  and  physique  unsurpassed,  as  he  was  not  even 
in  devotion  to  duty  by  Lee  the  incomparable,  or  in  austerity 
of  Christian  life  by  'Stonewall,'  the  soldier  saint.  ISTo  won- 
der that  his  military  merits  were  recognized  by  the  academic 
authorities  in  each  successive  cadet  promotion,  from  first 
corporal  to  first  captain ;  perhaps,  the  most  conscientious 
young  man  I  have  ever  known.  Those  who  knew  him  best 
foretold  for  him  a  grade  only  secondary  to  the  highest,  if  his 
young  life  should  be  briefly  protracted  in  that  mighty  epoch. 
Alas!  the  siege  of  Port  Hudson  made  nugatory  the  predic- 
tion. 

John  Pegram,  of  Virginia,  gifted  and  accomplished  to  a 
high   degree,    was   my    honored  kinsman.      He   was    struck 

[70] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOEE. 

down  in  the  trenches  around  Petersburg  only  a  few  days 
before  the  evacuation  and  the  final  collapse,  and  but  a  few 
brief  days  too  after  his  marriage  to  one  of  Baltimore's  reign- 
ing belles,  the  beautiful  Hetty  Cary.  I  have  heard  that  the 
young  bride  met  the  remains  of  her  hero-husband  as  they 
were  being  borne  to  the  rear,  and  realized  that  she  was  a 
widow. 

John  T.  Mercer  of  Georgia  was  of  a  most  highly  sensitive 
and  assertive  nature,  qualities  which  barred  his  well-deserved 
promotion,  for  he  was  a  soldier  every  inch.  He  fell  at 
Plymouth,  in  this  State.  On  the  eve  of  Gettysburg,  on  com- 
ing into  camp  a  little  late  at  a  place  called  Heidlersburg,  I 
got  a  pressing  request  from  him  to  come  over  to  his  camp 
immediately  on  arrival,  on  most  urgent  call.  Sumiising  its 
purport,  I  at  once  rode  over,  and  found  him  in  a  very  angry 
mood.  He  at  once  told  the  object  of  his  request,  which,  as 
inferred,  was  to  be  the  bearer  of  a  peremptory  challenge  to  a 
brother  colonel  in  the  same  brigade,  (Dole's),  and  from  the 
same  State.  He  was  one  of  the  boy  colonels,  being  under 
twenty-one  when  commissioned,  and  a  most  gallant  and 
efficient  one  he  was  (Willis  by  name),  who  had  resigned  his 
cadetship  as  soon  as  his  State  resumed  her  delegated  powers. 
I  knew  that  there  was  bad  blood  between  them,  and  that 
neither  would  be  loath  to  look  down  the  mouth  of  the  other's 
pistol.  "State  your  quarrel !"  was  my  reply.  "Is  that 
necessary  between  old  friends  ?"  he  retorted.  "With  me,  it 
most  certainly  is,"  was  the  reply.  He  gave  it,  and  it  looked 
like  a  very  pretty  quarrel,  as  Sir  Lucius  would  have  said, 
from  his  standpoint.      Not  so,  however,  from  mine. 

It  was  obvious  from  his  own  statement  that  he  had  been  a 
trifle  precipitate,  not  to  add,  and  over-pronounced  in  the 
interview  on  the  march  that  day.  And  so  he  was  told  that  I 
would  not  take  a  hostile  message  to  Colonel  Willis,  but  would 
gladly  be  the  bearer  of  an  apology.     This  decided  declaration 

L71] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

was  near  transferring  the  quarrel  from  Willis  to  myself,  for 
he  bluntly  remarked  that  he  called  on  me  for  a  favor  and  not 
for  a  Sunday-school  lecture.  To  quiet  him  down,  I  simply 
remarked : 

"Old  friend,  I  might  take  umbrage  at  that  remark,  but  will 
let  it  pass,  for  let  me  tell  you  that  this  is  no  time  for  patriots 
to  be  cutting  each  other's  throats.  I  have  just  heard  that  the 
foe  are  concentrating  in  our  front,  not  twenty  miles  distant, 
and  to-morrow  will  be,  in  all  probability,  the  turning  point 
of  the  Confederacy,  for  we  are  to  march  at  sunrise  to  meet 
them." 

"Thank  Heaven  for  that,"  was  his  reply,  "for  if  oppor- 
tunity occurs,  I  shall  dare  him  to  his  face  to  keep  in  line  with 
me  in  the  charge."  ISToble  fellows  they  both  were,  and  each 
died  in  the  line  of  duty  shortly  afterwards.  God  be  praised ! 
not  face  to  face,  and  by  each  other's  hands. 

James  Deshler  of  Alabama,  was  another  of  that  class.  A 
brother  had  preceded  him  in  the  corps,  but  was  drowned  in 
the  Hudson  while  swimming.  James  was  earnest  but  unde- 
monstrative, and  beloved  by  all  for  solidity,  manly  bearing, 
and  other  sterling  qualities.  The  same  may  be  said  of  Pey- 
ton Colquitt  of  Georgia,  Horace  Randall  of  Texas,  and  John 
O.  Long.  The  last  four  also  died  on  the  field,  but  in  which 
particular  battles  I  am  not  prepared  to  say.  Abner  Smead 
of  Georgia,  I  think,  survived  the  struggle,  but  I  have  lost 
sight  of  him  since.  Samuel  T.  Shepperd  and  William  M. 
Davant,  of  ^orth  Carolina  and  South  Carolina  respectively, 
died  before  the  inception  of  hostilities.  Had  they  lived 
until  it  came  on,  it  is  easy  to  predict  where  they  would  have 
been  found. 

If  some  may  deem  the  panegyric  of  these  early  manhood 
friends  slightly  too  ornate  and  diffuse  for  good  taste,  the 
reply  is  that  it  is  a  genuine  outgush,  and  not  an  overpartial 
estimate.     As  proof,  be  it  understood  that  my  class-fellow- 

[72] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

ship  terminated  at  the  end  of  the  year,  and  my  remaining 
two-years  stay  at  the  Institution  was  in  the  class  next  suc- 
ceeding, that  of  1851,  in  which  there  were  numbers  of  as 
true  and  loyal  spirits  and  gallant  gentlemen  as  in  any  other. 
But  my  intimates  were  mainly  in  the  first. 

It  embraced  a  decided  preponderance  of  Northern  men, 
many  of  whom  made  name  and  fame  a  little  later  on.  Prom- 
inent among  these  were  the  future  generals,  Gregg,  Weitzel, 
Comstock,  Reno,  Eliot,  Webb,  Ruggles,  Averill,  Vinton,  and 
Hazen.  Clever  fellows  and  worthy  gentlemen  they  were,  to 
the  best  of  my  knowledge  and  belief  in  those  early  days,  who 
fought  for  'what  they  believed  to  be  right,'  I  am  glad  to  say 
that,  so  far  as  known,  none  had  to  pay  the  life  penalty  for 
espousal  of  conviction.  A  fortunate  contrast  to  the  class 
preceding. 

Yes,  they  should  be  held  extenuate  for  risking  their  lives 
for  what  the}'  believed  to  be  right,  inasmuch  as  the  Constitu- 
tion with  correct  annotation  by  competent  commentators  was 
a  volume  virtually  of  the  expurgatorious  order,  neither  to  be 
touched,  tasted,  handled,  swallowed,  or  discussed,  for  fear  of 
dread  contamination,  subjecting  the  presumptious  culprit  to 
social  purgatorial  penalty.  And  so  the  edict  went  forth  to 
all  the  nurseries,  schools  and  colleges,  in  the  regions  where 
they  were  born  and  bred  ;  this  thing  must  be  eschewed  except 
by  prescription  of  Dr.  Story.  No  wonder  that  under  the 
almost  exclusive  indoctrination  of  this  immaculate  Constitu- 
tion interpreter  and  amender  these  honest,  but  misguided 
youths,  like  hundreds  of  thousands  besides,  were  ready  to 
risk  their  lives  on  what  they  believed  to  be  right;  and  as  little 
wonder,  that  the  others  were  prepared  to  lay  down  theirs  for 
what,  under  better  incultation,  they  knew  to  be  right.  We 
were  all  good  friends  then,  although  there  were  slumbering 
and  latent  feeling  of  distrust  and  unrest,  all  realizing  that 
ere  long  they  would  have  to  be  cutting  each  others'  throats. 

L73J 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

Be  it  remembered,  that  those  days  were  in  the  midst  of  the 
most  exciting  period  of  our  political  history.  The  Kansas 
and  Nebraska  question,  the  Compromise  or  Omnibus  Bill, 
the  Admission  of  California,  etc.  It  looked  as  if  grim-vis- 
aged  war  was  about  to  cry  havoc,  and  let  loose,  eight  or  nine 
years  before  the  summons  came.  That  it  was  bound  to  come 
was  tacitly  conceded  by  all  who  had  the  glimmer  of  forecast 
or  reflection.  Still,  controversy  on  the  subject  was  by  inborn 
gentlemanly  instinct  ignored.  The  thought  with  all  seemed 
to  be,  the  dread  inevitable  is  near  at  hand,  but  why  dissever 
friendly  relations  before  it  comes  ? 

In  speaking  of  these  new  friends  and  comrades,  it  would 
be  remiss  not  to  mention  a  few  of  them  specially.  Francis 
R.  T.  JSTicholls  of  Louisiana  was  an  inborn  soldier  and  gen- 
tleman, one  of  most  winning  ways,  coupled  with  assurance 
that  in  the  race  of  life  he  was  bound  to  win.  And  so  he  did, 
at  terrible  cost.  In  one  of  his  first  fights  he  laid  an  ampu- 
tated arm  on  the  altar  of  the  cause.  Not  content  with  that, 
however,  he  went  back  at  the  head  of  his  brigade  almost  be- 
fore the  sanction  of  his  surgeon  could  be  obtained.  Then, 
after  glorious  service  for  a  brief  space,  he  brought  a  leg  as  fur- 
ther contribution.  There  were  some  who  thought  that  if 
Johnny,  as  he  was  lovingly  called,  could  only  have  kept  sad- 
dle, held  rein,  and  wielded  sabre,  he  would  have  continued 
the  contribution  by  instalments  until  he  would,  at  last,  fetch 
his  head  to  complete  a  dismembered  man  for  Judgment  Day 
or  the  anatomical  museum.  But  the  rest  of  him  was  reserved 
for  nobler  uses,  for  when  the  clash  of  arms  was  over,  and 
white  men  were  recognized  by  the  powers  that  then  were,  to 
be  as  good  as  negroes,  the  Pelicans  caught  him  up  and  made 
a  governor  of  him,  and  kept  making  him  one  as  long  as  he 
would  permit  it.  And  he  wielded  the  staff  of  state  in  peace 
(so-called)  as  efficiently  as  he  would  have  done  the  baton  of 
the  field-marshal  in  war. 

[741 


AN  AUTO   OF   HALF  A   CENTURY  AND   MOKE. 

John  L.  Black  of  South  Carolina  was  my  roommate  during 
the  last  year,  and  the  only  cross  words  that  ever  passed  were 
at  reveille,  when  patience  and  ingenuity  were  solely  taxed  to 
get  him  out  of  bed  and  down  to  roll-call.  That  boy  was  a 
sleeper;  a  cross-tie  was  not  a  circumstance  in  comparison.  I 
am  persuaded  that  he  was  in  lineal  descent  from  the  cham- 
pion of  the  historic  'Seven.'  Absences  began  piling  up  so 
fast  that  he  got  scared,  and  in  sheer  desperation  conferred  on 
me  plenary  power  to  disturb  his  seraphic  matutinal  slumbers 
to  guard  against  the  dread  two-hundred  demerit  mark.  Per- 
haps I  did  not  rejoice  with  exceeding  joy  over  the  prerogative 
thus  bestowed.  Perhaps  my  somniferous  friend  was  not  in 
line  before  the  last  roll  of  the  drum  next  morning  with 
feathers  ruffled,  with  bad  thoughts  in  his  heart,  and  anathe- 
mic  English  on  his  tongue.  Perhaps  he  did  not  insist  on  a 
revoke  before  breakfast,  and  perhaps  his  plaintive  appeal  was 
hearkened  to.  All  of  these  hypotheses  are  in  the  range  of 
remote  possibility,  but  out  of  all  reach  of  the  probable.  How 
could  any  innocent  youth  resign  such  a  fund  of  fun  freely 
bestowed  and  confirmed  by  the,  at  that  day,  infrangible  word 
of  a  cadet?  Moral:  (Specially  addressed  to  hard-hearted 
mothers  of  boys  who  like  their  morning  nap).,  Hydropathy 
is  the  proper  treatment,  but  not  in  homeopathic  formula.  A 
douche,  a  douche  all  over,  ice-water  preferred.  Not  one 
somnolent  in  ten  thousand  can  resist  the  call  of  'get  up  !'  when 
properly  administered.  Old  Black  got  up ;  he  got  up  in  a 
hurry.  In  fact,  it  may  be  added  by  way  of  emphasis,  he  got 
up  with  alacrity  amounting  almost  to  telephonic  celerity.  I 
would  not  dare  to  repeat  what  that  man  said  in  his  first  out- 
burst of  temper,  totally  oblivious  to  the  fact  that  it  was  done 
for  his  own  good.  After  he  cooled  off  he  was  more  amenable 
to  reason,  sometimes  called  the  sober  second-thought.  The 
second  morning,  the  sight  of  the  water-bucket  sufficed  to 
quicken  his  rising  faculties.     Third,  he  was  out  of  bed  before 

[75] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

I  was.  And  thus  he  escaped  the  danger  of  demerit  dismissal 
through  the  Circean  charms  of  'Nature's  sweet  restorer/  all 
owing  to  my  considerate  solicitude.  Henry  Clay,  Jr.,  grand- 
son of  the  Great  Commoner,  and  inheritor  of  his  genious,  ran 
the  reveille  racket  a  good  deal  nearer  the  danger  line  than  my 
chum,  as  he  had  no  fidus  Achates  for  roommate  to  hold  the 
nightmare  of  hydropathic  treatment  over  his  somniferous 
and  devoted  head.  Black  still  survives,  after  seeing  the 
'great  war'  through  as  colonel  of  a  regiment  of  horse.  Glori- 
ous old  boy,  he  and  I  tugged  together  for  three  years  on  the 
treadmill  on  the  Hudson,  neither  exploiting  himself  in  the 
academic  curriculum.  When  I  announced  my  purpose  to 
resign,  he  at  once  declared  he  would  too  as  he  was  about 
determined  to  give  up  school  and  marry  a  pretty  cousin  of 
his  to  whom  he  was  already  betrothed. 

One  who  has  made  a  world-wide  name  since  then,  likewise 
did  so  about  the  same  time.  James  A.  Whistler,  or  as  he  was 
familiarly  known  at  that  time,  'Little  Jimmy'  (not  'Little 
Billie,'  as  portrayed  by  Du  Maurier  in  Trilby),  occupied  the 
room  just  opposite,  across  the  passage  way,  and  when  not 
immersed  in  a  novel  in  his  own  room  could  be  found  in  ours, 
telling  of  the  wonders  he  had  seen,  and  part  of  which  he 
invariably  was.  His  father,  Colonel  Whistler,  had  with  his 
friend,  Tom  Winans,  long  been  one  of  the  two  chief  civil 
engineers  of  the  Czar  of  Russia,  and  under  their  conjoint 
efforts  all  of  his  great  works  of  internal  improvement  up  to 
that  time  had  been  begun,  profiled  and  carried  out,  much  to 
their  pecuniary  profit.  His  success  with  the  brush  has  been 
phenomenal,  and  he  is  now  perhaps  the  most  talked-of  living 
painter  in  the  world. 

Junius  B.  Wheeler  of  North  Carolina  was  an  old  friend  of 
mine.  He  was  a  Mexican  war  man  in  his  early  teens,  and 
saw  it  out.  Some  ill-natured  comment  would  have  been 
spared  him  had  he  resumed  his  war  experience  when  his  State 

[76] 


AIST  AUTO    OF    HALF  A   CENTURY  AND   MORE. 

resumed  her  delegated  powers.  Poor  fellow,  it  was  a  tempt- 
ing bait  held  out  to  him  to  remain — the  most  exalted  profes- 
sorship in  America,  that  of  Military  and  Civil  Engineering, 
the  successor  of  the  great  and  lamented  Dennis  H.  Mahan, 
and  he  but  half  a  dozen  years  out  of  the  classroom.  It  was 
said  that  he  remained  with  the  distinct  understanding  that  he 
was  not  to  be  ordered  on  active  service. 

In  striking  contrast  was  the  course  pursued  by  another  old 
friend  of  the  same  class,  whom  the  year  before  his  entry  I 
had  left  at  Weld's  school  in  Boston.  James  H.  Hill  was  the 
son  of  an  army  officer  and  was  born,  I  believe,  at  some  mili- 
tary post  in  Maine.  Naturally  his  associations  and  early 
bias  would  have  prompted  him  to  remain  in  the  'Old  Army.' 
But  not  so.  He  remembered  that  his  father  was  a  South- 
erner ;  perhaps  had  imbibed  political  indoctrination  from  that 
source,  and  so  he  cast  his  lot,  in  choosing  side  in  the  mighty 
conflict,  by  blood  instinct.  He  and  the  brilliant  Wniting 
were  brothers-in-law  and  devoted  friends,  as  shown  by  per- 
sistent refusal  of  promotion  in  the  'New  Army'  in  order  to 
remain  on  his  kinsman's  staff  with  subordinate  rank. 
Greed  of  gain  or  professional  distinction  most  assuredly  did 
not  enter  into  this  man's  calculations  in  the  election  he  had 
to  make  between  the  'Old  Army'  and  the  'New.'  Few  could . 
have  decided  either  way  with  less  danger  of  provoking  hostile 
criticism. 

A  brief  allusion  to  a  few  of  the  most  pronounced  embryo- 
nic heroes  in  the  two  upper  classes,  and  we  pass  on. 

George  B.  Anderson  of  North  Carolina  easily  takes  rank 
amongst  the  highest  of  the  'preux  chevaliers'  of  the  first 
graduating  class.  He  received  his  death  wound  at  Sharps- 
burg,  and  died  the  high-toned,  refined  gentleman  that  he  had 
ever  lived.  Suave  and  gentle  he  was,  in  the  extreme,  to  every- 
one, but  there  was  the  'lion  couchant'  beneath  that  placid 


[77] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

demeanor.  He  was  lately  married  to  a  charming  young 
wife. 

Then  there  was  John  S.  Bowen  of  Georgia,  who  died  a 
hero  and  a  Major  General  Commanding  at  Champion  Hills. 
On  the  eve  of  his  first  commission,  he  and  Philip  H.  Sheri- 
dan (later  on  full  General  U.  S.  A.)  were  suspended  and 
thrown  back  a  year  on  account  of  some  pardonable  boyish 
escapade.      Courts-martial  are  at  times  needlessly  severe. 

Lawrence  A.  Williams  of  Washington  was  deemed  over 
muchadudein  the  corps,  being  of  remarkably  fine  appearance 
and  unapproachable  attire,  a  kind  of  nondescript  for  which 
men  of  sense,  and  women  too,  have  but  little  use.  We  little 
dreamt  in  our  little  day  that  a  hero  lurked  beneath.  The 
Confederate  General  Commanding  thought  it  most  essential 
to  get  an  insight  in  the  enemy's  lines  before  striking  a 
crushing  blow.  In  a  quiet  way  he  tried  to  find  an  emissary 
suitable  for  the  undertaking,  for  no  ordinary  one  would  do. 
Response  to  request  was  irresponsive,  for  well  they  knew  that 
capture  meant  the  halter.  In  the  dead  hour  of  night  Colonel 
Williams  whispered  his  readiness  to  undertake  the  embassy, 
and  to  ask  for  verbal  instructions.  Upon  receipt  of  these, 
he  and  a  young  friend  were  off  in  quest,  in  Federal  disguise, 
and  on  fleetest  mount.  They  struck  the  Federal  left,  and  for 
twenty  miles  they  followed  it,  wiring  in  and  wiring  out,  Wil- 
liams, who  was  an  accomplished  draughtsman,  all  the  time 
making  notes.  Things,  were  working  beautifully  until,  in  an 
inauspicious  moment,  poor  Lawrence  was  recognized  by  an 
old  acquaintance,  and  within  twenty-four  hours  thereafter 
he  and  his  friend  were  hanging  as  convicted  spies.  The 
evidence  was  undeniable,  the  proof  complete,  and  so  by  the 
inexorable  laws  of  war  he  had  to  die,  as  did  Captain  ISTathan 
Hale  of  the  Revolution,  and  that  superb  boy,  Sam  Davis,  who 
died  in  the  same  locality,  Middle  or  West  Tennessee.  ISTo 
shame  attached  to  either,  but,  on  the  contrary,  imperishable 

[78] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

glory.  Men  who  die  as  they  did,  and  in  such  behalf,  die  the 
death  of  martyrs  and  make  the  gallows  more  than  respectable. 

Slocum,  Casey,  Stanley,  Hartsuff,  M'Cook,  and  others  of 
that  class,  reflected  glory  upon  it  and  upon  themselves. 
They  were  all  on  the  other  side.  Jerome  X.  Bonaparte  was 
a  man  of  striking  appearance  and  physique,  with  more  of  the 
look  of  the  little  Corsican  that  any  other  that  bore  his  name. 
Some  there  were,  and  are,  who  would  have  esteemed  him  all 
the  more  had  he  repudiated  that  name,  which  his  great  uncle 
denied  him,  and  his  ignoble  grandfather  for  a  petty  crown 
permitted.     He  was  neutral  in  the  war. 

The  second  class  contributed  three  marked  historical  char- 
acters as  its  quota  to  the  struggle.  James  B.  McPherson  of 
Ohio  was  essentially  a  soldier  and  a  gentleman,  surpassing 
his  immediate  chief  in  both  attributes  if  impartial  criticism 
is  respected ;  undoubtedly,  in  the  last.  He  was  killed  as  a 
corps  commander  in  Sherman's  march  to  Atlanta,  at  Resaca, 
I  believe.  The  date  ought  to  be  indelibly  fixed,  for  on  the 
day  that  obsequies  were  to  take  place  at  a  small  town  near 
Sandusky,  Ohio,  the  rumor  got  out  that  a  prison  guard  in  that 
vicinity  was  to  be  materially  reduced  in  order  to  do  honor  to 
the  occasion.  On  a  little  island  hard  by,  Johnson's  by  name, 
were  two  or  three  thousand  all-the-year-round  boarders,  who 
were  pining  for  a  change  of  tavern.  Here  was  the  opportu- 
nity to  throttle  and  bind  the  tavern  keepers,  and  sail  across 
to  the  Queen's  dominions.  It  was  a  beautiful  scheme  for 
dissevering  enforced  hospitality  so  far,  'and  all  went  merry 
as  a  marriage  bell,"  until  the  hour  preceding  the  auspicious 
moment  for  calling  on  the  other  gentlemen.  Then  it  became 
obvious  that  accursed  treason  had  been  at  work.  The  port- 
holes of  the  block -houses  were  thrown  open  and  the  field- 
pieces  double  shotted,  guards  doubled,  and  force  kept  intact. 
It  was  one  of  three  or  four  well-laid  plans  for  'a  break'  that 
were  nipped  in  the  hour  of  fruition,  evidently  betrayed  from 

[79] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

the  inside  of  the  prison-pen,  and  leaves  but  little  doubt  that 
Secretary  Staunton  had  his  hireling  spies  and  informers  in 
our  midst  in  the  guise  of  prisoners  of  war. 

Oh,  for  a  tongue  to  curse  the  slave, 

Whose  treason  like  a  deadly  blight 
Comes  o'er  the  counsels  of  the  brave, 

To  blast  them  in  their  hour  of  might. 

John  M.  Schofield  of  Illinois  and  John  B.  Hood  of  Ken- 
tucky were  likewise  members  of  the  same  class,  and  destined 
to  play  a  most  conspicous  part  against  each  other  at  the  turn- 
ing crisis  of  the  conflict,  making  their  death  grapple  at  Frank- 
lin the  hinging  struggle  of  the  war.  Hood,  who  had  lately 
superseded  Joseph  E.  Johnson  in  the  command  of  the  Army 
of  the  West,  at  once  broke  camp  at  Atlanta  and  moved  north- 
ward with  his  entire  force,  with  the  view  to  recapture  Nash- 
ville and  penetrate  Kentucky  in  order  to  strike  a  counteract- 
ing blow  to  Sherman  in  his  unopposed  progress  to  the  Atlantic 
coast.  At  Columbia,  he  came  up  with  his  old  friend  and 
classmate,  Schofield,  with  about  one-third  of  his  numerical 
strength.  It  was  self-evident  thence  on  that  it  was  to  be  a 
foot-race  from  there  to  ]STashville,  and  that  whichever  got 
into  those  trenches  first  would  gain  the  decided  vantage 
ground.  Almost  at  the  start  it  became  obvious  that  'some  one 
had  blundered,'  wofully,  egregiously  blundered,  to  call  it 
by  no  harsher  name.  Seeing  his  opportunity  from  the  lay  of 
the  ground,  Hood  detached  one  of  his  hardest  fighting  divis- 
ions to  make  a  detour,  swing  around  and  intercept  the  retreat 
•from  the  rear,  whilst  he  with  the  rest  'of  his  command  would 
assail  from  the  attacking  side  in  pursuit.  Prettier  plan  was 
never  devised  for  the  annihilation  of  an  army  at  most  critical 
juncture.  It  was  a  repetition,  to  all  intents,  of  Jackson's 
wonderful  flank  movement  at  Chancellorsville.  A  chance 
bullet  prevented  the  full  fruition  of  the  last.  Far  more  cul- 
pable the  misadventure  of  the  other  in  the  very  zenith  of 
success,     Who   was   the   responsible   party   for   this   utterly 

[80] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOKE. 

inexcusable  neglect  or  omission  ?  The  Captain  or  lieu- 
tenant, for  one  or  the  other  necessarily  was.  Each  said  the 
other,  God  pity  the  one  that  was !  Not  for  the  baton  or  regal 
crown  would  I  in  foro  conscientiae  assume  that  dread 
responsibility. 

Scofield  filed  by  all  night  in  such  near  touch  to  our  lines 
that  his  men  would  step  out  of  ranks  and  light  their  pipes  at 
our  bivouac  fires.  That  argues  that  the  detached  division 
had  reached  the  suitable  and  objective  point  for  carrying  out 
the  object  designed.  Certain  it  is,  the  object  was  not  carried 
out.  Who  was  to  blame  ?  In  repetition,  the  Lieutenant 
said  the  Captain,  inasmuch  as  he  was  waiting  specific  orders 
which  never  came.  The  Captain  claims,  and  with  presump- 
tion of  probability,  that  the  other  was.  As  he  remarked  to 
me  some  four  months  afterwards  on  my  way  back  from 
prison : 

"Do  you  believe  me,  old  friend,  to  be  such  a  natural-born 
fool  as  to  have  started  him  on  this  vital  mission  without 
definite  orders,  as  far  as  foresight  could  reach  ?  Or  do  you 
believe  him  to  be  one  of  the  sort  to  undertake  such  a  charge 
without  orders  ? 

"Besides,"  (he  continued,  almost  with  tears  in  his  eyes) 
"I  dispatched  three  several  couriers  at  intervals  later  on  to 
impress  upon  him  the  transcendent,  the  overwhelming  impor- 
tance of  intercepting  Schofield.  They  all  reported  subse- 
quently that  the  order  had  been  delivered  in  person." 

Rest  the  blame  on  which  it  may,  and  I  repeat  in  all 
religious  fervor,  God  pity  the  culpable !  It  was  the  last 
chance,  but  a  glorious  opportunity  for  the  Confederacy. 

The  Federal  legions  quietly  moved  by  the  rest  of  the  night, 
and  within  twenty-four  hours  thereafter  were  behind  the 
impregnable  ramparts  across  Harpeth  River  near  Franklin. 
What  followed  was  a  hollocaust,  a  wholesale  massacre  for  the 
Confederate  Army  in  pursuit.  Without  entering  into  close 
6  [81] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

enumeration,  the  loss  inflicted  on  the  assailants  was  almost 
equal  to  the  entire  force  within  the  works.  Eleven  of  the  best 
General  Officers  were  killed  or  wounded,  including  Pat 
Clepburn,  the  'Stonewall'  of  the  West.  Whatever  may  be 
thought  or  said  of  the  late  culpability  of  omission,  there  can 
be  no  two  opinions  as  to  the  responsibility  of  commission  here. 
The  Commanding  General  must  assuredly  bear  it.  His 
enemies  allege  that  this  needless  slaughter  was  the  result  of 
the  miscarriage  of  his  soldierly  scheme,  just  referred  to, 
prompted  by  chagrin,  mortification,  and  disappointment. 
Be  that  as  it  may,  the  actuating  impulse  what  it  might,  whilst 
it  was  ''grand,  it  was  not  war." 

From  there  to  Nashville,  Schofield  had  a  walk-over,  and 
later  on,  as  resultant  of  that  wonderful  fight,  a  walk-in  to  the 
chief  command  of  the  United  States  Army. 

A  lot  of  desultory  fighting  around  Nashville,  devoid  of 
significance,  followed,  and  that  glorious,  but  shattered,  army 
started  back  to  the  Tennessee,  a  mere  remnant  as  it  was. 
Lucky  it  was  that  on  that  retrograde  march  that  a  Michel 
Xey  turned  up  to  save  the  retreat  from  a  total  rout,  if  not 
extermination.  One  of  the  phenomenal  men  of  all  ages  hap- 
pened to  be  on  hand,  as  he  seemed  always  to  be  at  the  right 
place  and  at  the  right  time  whenever  serious  work  had  to  be 
done.  It  was  ISTathan  Bedford  Forrest,  who,  with  none  of 
the  fortuitous  advantages  of  schools  or  training,  had  risen 
from  the  ranks  to  the  grade  of  Lieutenant-General,  and  by 
unvarying  success  reflected  imperishable  renown  on  every 
station.  lie  was  now  a  sort  of  independent  chief  of  cavalry, 
barely  amenable  to  any  nominal  superior;  actual  he  had  none 
after  the  death  of  Sidney  Johnson.  In  his  sublime  self- 
consciousness,  he  felt  this  then,  and  the  recognized  war  critics 
of  the  world  have  since  felt  and  conceded  it,  including 
Wolsely,  Sherman,  Grant,  Maury,  and  others.  I  for  one 
have  an  undoubting  belief  that  if  he  could  have  succeeded  the 

[82J 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOKE. 

great  Johnston  in  command  the  moment  he  fell,  the  Confed- 
erate States  would  have  been  a  recognized  power  of  the  nations 
before  six  months  had  rolled  around.  The  crisis  called  for  a 
man,  and  there  he  was ;  a  born  soldier,  not  of  the  mere  dilatory 
or  dillettante  or  martinet  or  bulldog  order,  but  one  who  always 
carried  a  head  on  his  shoulders,  brimful  of  native  brain  capa- 
city, of  far-reaching  intuition,  grasping  the  thing  to  do,  and 
never  failing  to  do  it.  A  man  of  resources  and  expedients  at 
critical  juncture  approaching  the  marvellous,  with  the  single 
thought  ever  in  view  of  success  to  his  side,  and  all-sustained 
by  powers  of  endurance  approaching  the  superhuman,  marked 
the  son  of  the  North  Carolina  blacksmith  as  a  veritable  son  of 
Mars,  surpassing  in  native,  untutored  genius  for  war  all  of 
his  age,  if  not  of  all  preceding  ages.  Tennessee  owes  much 
to  her  old  mother — North  Carolina,  some  of  which  has  never 
been  credited,  but  the  deepest  obligation  of  all  was  in  the 
bestowal  and  adoption  of  this  surpassing  son  of  genius,  and 
another  of  kindred  mould — him  of  the  'Hermitage,'  two  of 
the  most  stupendous  prodigies  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
He  saved  the  remnant  of  that  army  as  Ney  saved  that  from 
Moscow,  the  two  grandest  men  in  their  respective  armies,  the 
imperial  runaway  not  excepted.  Next  to  self-assertiveness 
in  the  discharge  of  duty,  modesty  was  the  essential  attribute 
of  each.  Each  knew  what  he  could  do,  but  never  boasted  or 
plumed  himself  on  what  he  had  done.  It  has  been  one  of  the 
regrets  of  my  subsequent  life  that  I  did  not  know  him  better, 
for  our  acquaintance  was  but  transient. 

But  to  return  to  the  West  Point  of  the  fifties,  on  the  eve  of 
war.  Having  now  paid  my  respects  to  the  boys  of  that  day, 
I  would  be  derelict  to  historic  memoir  to  pass  by  some  of  the 
Academic  Staff  who  became  history-makers  in  the  same 
momentous  epoch,  older  boys  by  a  few  years. 

Brevet-Captain  Gustavus  W.  Smith  had  long  since  caught 
the  discerning  eye  of  President  Davis,  when  the  latter  was 

[83] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

at  the  head  of  the  War  Office  of  the  United  States  Army. 
Recognizing  his  great  merit,  he  made  him  one  of  the  five  full 
Confederate  generals  on  taking  the  responsibility  of  organiz- 
ing the  new  army  on  the  brink  of  hostilities.  He  proved 
himself  well  deserving  the  confidence  of  his  great  Chief  at 
Seven  Pines  later  on,  until  struck  down  by  paralysis. 

First-Lieutenant  Joseph  J.  Reynolds  was  Assistant  Pro- 
fessor of  Philosophy,  and  a  philosopher  he  was.  He  it  was 
who  enunciated  the  great  dictum  collateral  with  the  great 
Dean's  two  blades  of  grass  truism ;  'it  costs  less  to  feed  two 
than  one;  I  know,  for  I  have  tried  them  both.'  Encourage- 
ment that  to  a  subaltern  connubiality,  with  proviso  prelimi- 
nary of  dainty  appetite  and  Mrs.  Gilpin's  "frugal  mind 
intent'  Gallant  gentleman  that  he  was,  he  died  in  front  of 
our  brigade  at  the  deep  railroad  cut  at  Gettysburg,  after 
inflicting  a  loss  of  some  nine  hundred  on  us.  He  died  a 
Major-General,  United  States  Army.  Note  corrective  of 
mistaken  identity  as  to  the  last-named.  In  a  recent  two-days 
drive  over  the  field  (Gettysburg)  with  my  old  friend  and 
classmate,  General  O.  O.  Howard,  he  told  me  that  I  was  mis- 
taken in  inference  as  to  initials.  Instead  of  J.  J.,  it  was  J. 
P.  Reynolds  who  died  that  day.  As  Howard  was  his  succes- 
sor in  command  the  rest  of  that  eventful  day,  the  presumption 
is  that  he  reported  correctly.  As  Byron  says :  "Such  is  fame  ! 
your  name  misspelt  in  a  bulletin,  or  a  bullet  in  your  body." 
Long  may  the  other  live  to  prove  his  theroy  of  economy  in 
duality. 

Pirst-Lieutenants  John  M.  Jones,  David  R.  Jones,  and 
Henry  B.  Clitz,  were  Assistant  Instructors  of  Infantry  Tac- 
tics, and  teachers  and  gentlemen  all.  The  first  two  died 
General  Officers  in  the  Confederate  Army,  and  the  last 
attained  the  like  rank  in  the  Pederal,  and,  I  trust,  still  sur- 
vives, for  all  who  recall  him  when  he  was  in  charge  of  one  of 
the  military  departments  of  the  South,  in  the  early  days  of 

[84] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOKE. 

'reconstruction/  speak  of  him  in  affectionate  and  loving 
terms,  as  one  who  never  took  advantage  of  his  power  and 
position  to  ill-use  or  maltreat  those  then  at  his  mercy,  and  a 
beautiful  epitaph  it  would  be  for  this  good  soldier  and  worthy 
gentleman.  All  who  were  puffed  up  with  a  little  brief 
authority  in  those  dark  days,  which  gave  an  insight  into 
character  and  inward  nature,  were  not  always  so  considerate. 
What  is  said  of  Clitz  applies  with  equal  force  to  General 
Milton  Cogswell,  at  the  time  referred  to  a  Second-Lieutenant 
and  Assistant  Professor  of  Mathematics. 

Lieutenant  Andrew  J.  Donelson  of  the  Engineers,  though 
of  a  later  date,  must  not  be  given  the  go-by.  His  Corps  indi- 
cated his  class  standing;  his  brief  graduate  army  record,  his 
merit.  He  died  at  Memphis,  a  First-Lieutenant  of  Engi- 
neers, on  October  20,  1859.  His  brother,  John  S.,  a  Yale 
graduate,  and  my  very  particular  friend,  was  killed  at  Chick- 
amauga,  a  promoted  captain  after  five  wounds  antecedent. 

Brevet-Major  Fitz  John  Porter  became  a  distinguished 
Major-General  in  the  Union  Army,  and  made  a  name  for  him- 
self, until  in  an  evil  hour  a  ranking  incompetent,  much  famed 
for  modesty  and  veracity,  became  conscious  that  he  needed  a 
scapegoat  to  take  off  the  blame  and  responsibility  of  a  most 
ignominious  defeat.  And  so,  for  twenty  years,  this  true 
soldier  and  unblemished  gentleman  had  to  bear  the  soldier's 
dreaded  stigma  of  being  derelict  and  behindhand  in  the  hour 
of  emergency.  Eor  twenty  years  he  had  to  pay  this  dread 
penalty  to  graded  imbecility.  One  of  the  pleasant  recollec- 
tions of  my  life  was  helping  to  undo  this  greivous  wrong 
by  a  vote  in  Congress. 

That  outrage  is  suggestive  of  the  judicial  murder  by  court- 
martial  of  Admiral  Byng,  and  that,  nearly  a  century  later,  of 
that  poor  lad  'Spencer'  on  the  brig  Somers.  Scapegoats 
these  to  ranking  incapacity,  imbecility  and  cowardice.  Ap- 
posite to  these,  the  most  glaring  instance  of  injustice,  not  to 

[85] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

say  national  ingratitude,  was  the  virtual  humiliation  of  a 
later-on  and  valued  friend,  then  Major,  later  on  Major-Gen- 
eral, Don  Carlos  Buell.  This  grand  soldier  and  true  gentle- 
man turned  an  overwhelming  defeat,  or  more  appropriate 
rout,  of  a  grand  army  of  one  day  into  a  glorious  victory  the 
next,  and  such  was  his  recognition. 

First-Lieutenant  and  Brevet-Major  George  H.  Thomas 
was  instructor  of  Artillery  and  Cavalry,  and  Porter  was  his 
assistant.  A  cold,  phlegmatic,  unimpressionable  man  he 
always  seemed  to  me,  but  a  born  soldier,  as  the  near  future 
proved  him  to  be.  Had  he  been  bom  a  hundred  miles  nearer 
the  North  Pole,  it  might  be  added,  one  without  taint  or 
blemish.  Unfortunately  however,  for  his  good  name  and 
historic  reputation,  he  chose  to  be  swaddled  and  cradled  on 
this  side  of  the  Potomac,  and  when  it  came  to  taking  sides  he 
chose  to  espouse  that  of  those  on  the  other.  At  Chickamauga 
he  struck  his  native  section  and  maternal  State  the  heaviest 
single  blow  that  had  fallen  up  to  that  time.  It  was  a  crushing 
blow  to  his  natural  and  territorial  instincts,  and  a  most  telling 
one  for  the  side  of  his  choosing.  It  was  a  heart-rending 
reflection  to  the  embattled  South  that  the  two  most  terrible 
strokes  dealt  her,  up  to  that  period,  were  by  two  sons  of  hei 
own  nurture,  the  one  on  land,  and  the  other  on  the  water. 
Here  was  one.  Farragut  was  the  other.  Ought  it  not  to  be 
an  equally  mortifying  reflection  to  the  victorious  side  that,  in 
spite  of  her  overwhelming  preponderance  in  numbers  and  re- 
sources, her  undersized  competitor  had  to  furnish  her  with 
the  sledge-hammers  to  crush  her  ?  The  gratitude  of  the  bene- 
ficiary was  fully  shown  to  each,  both  by  permanent  promotion 
and  post-mortuary  memorials.  But  'marble  shaft  and  monu- 
mental brass'  only  impress  the  more  indelibly  the  'damned 
spot,  which  will  not  out.'  Both  have  my  pity  with  all  of 
their  grandeur  and  equivocal  honors.  Such  as  they  are,  let 
them  wear  them  in  peace. 

[86] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

More  agreeable  the  task  to  speak  of  another  Virginian, 
against  whom  the  breath  of  calumny  or  detraction  has  never 
been  heard,  and  in  whose  behalf  encomium  and  panegyric 
have  been  so  utterly  exhausted  that  nothing  in  the  way  of 
novelty  or  originality  can  be  uttered.  Were  I  called  upon  to 
designate  the  highest  tribute  ever  penned  in  his  praise,  it 
would  be  that  of  the  learned  Englishman,  Professor  Long,  if 
memory  is  not  at  faidt.  He  was  about  to  publish  his  life  of 
Marcus  Aurelius,  whom  he  assumes  to  have  been  the  grandest 
and  most  perfect  man  in  the  annals  of  time.  An  American 
friend  stated  in  print  that  the  work  was  to  be  dedicated  to 
General  Grant.  This  he  emphatically  denies,  adding,  in 
effect,  that  he  had  never  dedicated  a  book  to  any  man  in  his 
life  and  did  not  propose  ever  to  deviate  from  his  rule.  "If  I 
could  get  my  consent  so  to  do,"  he  adds,  "this  life  of  the  grand- 
est man  would  be  inscribed  to  the  next  grandest  before  or  since 
his  time,  the  modest  unpretentious  schoolmaster  in  the  hills 
of  Virginia,  who  rounds  off  his  matchless  war  record  by  a 
sublime  example  to  the  young  men  of  his  land."  The  quota- 
tion is  from  recollection,  and  not  from  text,  but  the  substance 
is  in  it.  Already  he  had  been  by  concensus  of  the  world's 
unbiased  verdict  pedestaled  in  the  then  recognized  group  of 
the  five  greatest  captains  of  all  time.  This  estimate  puts  him 
above  them  all,  as  the  unmatched  man  in  history  with  but  a 
single  exception.  Include  Saul  of  Tarsus,  better  known  as 
Saint  Paul,  and  the  standing  assigned  him  by  this  impartial 
critic  is  not  extravagant.  At  the  time  of  his  becoming  Super- 
intendent of  the  Military  Academy  (1852),  he  was  in  the 
prime  of  life,  only  forty-five  years  of  age,  although  he  had  but 
lately  emerged  from  the  Mexican  war  with  the  distinction 
surpassing  all  perhaps,  except  the  two  commanding  Generals. 
He  came  to  us  at  the  Academy  as  a  Captain  of  Engineers  and 
Brevet  Colonel.  Never  was  brevet  rank  more  worthily  won, 
for  by  planning  the  campaign  from  Vera  Cruz  to  the  City  of 

[87] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

Mexico  he  made  it  one  of  the  most  famous  in  the  annals  of 
war.  When  he  came,  he  was  one  of  the  finest  looking  speci- 
mens of  high  manhood,  both  a-foot  and  in  saddle,  but  especi- 
ally the  latter,  that  mortal  eye  ever  rested  upon. 

The  first  time  that  I  ever  had  the  honor  of  colloquial  con- 
verse with  this  man  of  men  was  on  occasion  herewith  to  fol- 
low. In  the  ranks  one  day  my  friend,  Archie  Gracie,  one  of 
the  heroes  already  alluded  to,  concluded  to  have  a  little  fun,  in 
a  quiet  way,  all  to  himself,  by  planting  his  hoofs,  not  of  the 
feminine  Chinese  pattern,  upon  my  heels.  This  he  persisted 
in  doing,  despite  a  gentle  remonstrance,  possibly  a  little 
emphasized.  Job  had  patience,  but  he  was  never  subjected  to 
such  an  ordeal  as  this,  and  so  the  gentleman  in  the  rear  was 
quietly  notified,  perhaps  with  a  slight  additional  inflection  of 
emphasis,  that  he  would  get  a  drubbing  as  soon  as  ranks  were 
broken.  To  which  he  impudently  retorted  :  "not  from  you !" 
Here  was  a  dare  and  a  take-up  that  no  boy  of  spirit  could 
resist.  It  was  the  'chip  on  the  shoulder,'  and  he  dared  to 
knock  it  off,  and  so  in  point  of  honor  there  had  to  be  a  fulfil- 
ment of  promise. 

This  duty  was  being  discharged  with  unction,  when  an  offi- 
cious individual  of  muscular  proportions,  Patrice  de  Janon 
by  name,  then  master  of  the  foils,  and  later  on  Professor  of 
Spanish,  had  to  interfere  and  break  up  the  fun.  I  thought 
at  the  time  it  was  a  mean  thing  to  do.  Perhaps  friend 
Archie  was  of  a  different  opinion,  for,  though  I  say  it  myself, 
I  was  getting  decidedly  the  best  of  it  when  old  'Smallswords' 
had  to  intermeddle  in  the  scrimmage.  Long  years  later  on, 
when  he  called  on  me  in  Washington,  I  reproached  him  for 
his  officiousness  on  that  occasion,  and  so,  methinks,  did  his 
conscience,  for  both  by  instinct  and  profession  he  ought  to 
have  known  better  than  to  intermeddle  in  a  good  square 
stand-up  fight  between  two  worthy  gentlemen.  A  fight  to  the 
finish  would  have  done  me  lots  of  good,  and  Gracie  but  little 

[88] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

hurt,  for  he  was  a  much  more  powerful  man,  and,  besides,  it 
would  have  inculcated  au  object  lesson,  or  rather  a  moral,  on 
his  young,  impressionable  nature  never  to  be  forgotten: 
namely,  never  to  step  on  a  man's  toes,  or  his  heels  either, 
without  good  and  sufficient  provocation.  Be  that  as  it  may, 
when  "the  mill,"  to  use  a  vulgar  slang  expression,  was  called 
off  by  the  master  of  fence,  I  declined  the  introduction  re- 
quested, and  walked  off  to  the  barracks. 

Not  so,  dear  old  Gracie,  who,  in  addition  to  his  name  and 
surname,  his  patronymic  and  matronymic,  perhaps,  gave  him- 
self completely  away.  When  asked  for  my  name,  however, 
he  replied,  like  the  sterling  gentleman  that  he  was,  "you  will 
have  to  ask  him,  for  I'm  no  informer."  In  consequence,  he 
got  all  the  penalty,  and  a  very  heavy  one  it  was,  for  fighting 
on  the  parade  ground,  and  I  came  off  scot-free  for  the  time 
being.     A  good  joke  that,  on  dear  old  Gracie ! 

The  next  morning  I  called  upon  the  Superintendent  at  his 
office,  and  the  purport  of  the  interview  follows.  I  opened  it 
thus : 

"Colonel  Lee,  Mr.  Gracie  was  yesterday  reported  for  fight- 
ing on  the  parade  ground,  and  "the  other  fellow'  was  not." 

"Yes,  sir,"  (was  the  reply),  "and  I  presume  you  are  the 
other  fellow." 

"I  am,  sir,  and  I  wish  to  submit  the  case  in  full  for  your 
consideration.  Don't  you  think  it  very  hard  on  him,  Col- 
onel, after  getting  the  worst  of  the  fracas,  to  havo  to  take  all 
of  the  penalty  incident  ?" 

"Admitted,  what  then?"  (was  the  reply). 

"Simply  this,  sir.  Whatever  punishment  is  meted  out  to 
him,  I  insist  on  having  the  same  given  to  me." 

"The  offence  entails  a  heavy  penalty"   (he  said). 

"I  am  aware  of  the  fact.  Colonel,  but  Mr.  Gracie  is  not  en- 
titled to  a  monopoly  of  it." 

(Then  he  replied  with  that  gentle,  benignant  smile  which, 

[89] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

once  seen,  could  not  easily  be  forgotten),  "No,  sir;  you  will 
get  neither  report  nor  penalty  for  this,  and  neither  will  Mr. 
Grade  get  the  last.  I  will  cancel  his  report.  Don't  you 
think,  Mr.  Green,  that  it  is  better  for  brothers  to  dwell  to- 
gether in  peace  and  harmony  ?" 

"Yes,  Colonel,  and  if  we  were  all  like  you,  it  would  be  an 
easy  thing  to  do." 

A  few  minutes  later,  while  looking  out  of  the  window,  I 
saw  Gracie  pass  with  Colonel  Lee's  orderly  following  behind, 
and  whilst  still  thinking  of  the  coincidence,  the  door  opened 
and  the  dear  old  boy  entered  and  seized  my  hand  without 
uttering  a  word,  and  the  breach  was  closed,  and  thence  on 
until  he  poured  out  his  heroic  heart's  blood,  a  rich  libation 
on  the  altar  of  liberty,  there  was  never  a  harsh  word  or  an 
unkind  thought  passed  between  us.  Is  it  hard  to  divine  who 
was  the  blessed  peacemaker  on  that  occasion  ? 

This  is  the  same  young  general  previously  referred  to, 
who,  when  General  Lee  ascended  the  earthwork  in  front  of 
his  brigade  to  make  personal  observation  of  the  enemy's  with 
a  view  to  some  contemplated  strategic  stroke,  and  would  not 
hearken  to  the  plaintive  appeals  of  the  men  below  to  come 
down, — "For  God's  sake,  General  Lee,  come  down !"  The 
incident  as  detailed  was  in  the  closing  days  of  the  Anaconda 
grip  about  Petersburg  and  the  last  days  of  the  Confederacy. 
It  was  then  that  Archibald  Gracie  proved  himself  the  hero 
that  nature  moulded  him.  Rushing  up  the  parapet  whilst 
minnies  were  buzzing  like  bumblebees  about  the  "Great  Cap- 
tain," he  stepped  between  him  and  the  hostile  sharpshooters. 
"Back  to  the  trenches,  General  Gracie !"  came  the  sharp, 
command, — and  the  cool  reply,  "After  you,  General  Lee.  I 
never  expected  to  disobey  an  order  of  yours,  but  here  I  do 
until  you  first  obey  an  order  of  mine.  Tumble  over  there, 
General,  and  I'll  follow,  but  not  a  step  before.  I  can  catch 
a  ball  as  well  as  you,  and  better  a  thousand,  than  you  one." 
For  once  insurbordination  was  justifiable. 

[90] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

As  tradition  runneth,  in  order  to  save  that  bull-headed 
Brigadier,  there  was  a  momentary  reversal  of  rank,  the  Lieu- 
tenant maintaining  the  upper  hand  of  control,  and  so  to  para- 
phrase the  nursery  rhyme:  "Old  Marse  Bob  came  tumbling 
down,  and  Gracie  came  tumbling  after !"  I  tell  the  tale  as  it 
has  been  told  and  repeated  to  me,  for  I  was  not  an  eye-witness, 
but  it  was  so  in  keeping  with  the  noble  nature  of  these  two 
gallant  gentlemen  that  it  is  accepted  without  the  usual  cum 
grano  under  such  circumstances. 

These  references  to  a  few  of  the  recognized  heroes  of  that 
memorable  epoch  might  be  much  extended  were  it  not  for 
fear  of  being  thought  over  diffuse  in  laudation  as  well  as  a 
little  prolix  in  recital.     Others  will  probably  appear-  later  on. 

And  so  for  three  years,  that  is  to  say  from  1S50  to  1S53, 
academic  life  flowed  on  in  its  quiet,  limpid  stream  with  but 
little  to  vary  the  usual  routine  of  parades,  guard  mountings, 
and  drills  of  various  kinds,  and  kindred  duties.  True,  dur- 
ing camp  season  the  Point  was  besieged  by  city  belles  and 
other  fair  harpies,  who  then  did,  and  still  do,  congregate  to 
whet  their  beaks  on  unsophisticated  squabs  simply  to  retain 
normal  appetites,  cultivate  the  lures  and  wiles,  and  keep  their 
hands  in  for  the  winter  campaign  for  larger  game  on  their 
return  to  town.  They  always  seemed  to  relish  the  fun,  little 
caring  for  the  havoc  of  young  hearts  that  they  were  to  leave 
behind,  as  later  on  indicated  by  lugubrious  looks  and  furnace 
sighs.  Poor  fellows ;  it  did  them  no  hurt  in  the  end,  and 
did  the  dear  creatures  lots  of  good. 

Concomitant  to  these  love  episodes  and  summer  cooings 
were  the  cadet  balls,  with  dulcet  strains  discoursed  by  one  of 
the  finest  orchestras  in  the  world.  The  dances  were  almost 
exclusively  of  the  good  old-fashioned  "square"  English  sort, 
with  an  occasional  waltz  by  those  well  acquainted,  and  almost 
always  winding  up  with  the  ever-to-be  honored  old  Virginia 
reel.  The  later-on  abomination  of  French  invention  and 
high  Dutch  cognomen  had  not  then  crept  in,  thank  the  Lord. 

[91] 


CHAPTER  IX. 

At  the  end  of  the  time  named  I  handed  in  my  resignation, 
having  no  desire  to  enter  and  remain  in  the  army  in  time  of 
peace.  My  stay  at  the  Academy  was,  on  the  whole,  the  most 
agreeable  connected  three  years  of  my  early  life  inasmuch  as 
it  brought  intimate  association  with  a  band  of  the  noblest 
gentlemen  that  I  have  since  known,  as  an  aggregate,  with  but 
few  frictions  resulting  from  contact.  Coming  from  one  of 
my  unfortunately  assertive  nature,  it  is  a  no  mean  compli- 
ment to  pay  to  the  friends  and  associates  of  that  interesting 
period. 

I  parted  from  the  dear  fellows  with  mutual  pangs  of  regret, 
unless  I  am  greatly  mistaken.  One  little  incident  may  not 
be  out  of  place  in  that  connection.  The  afternoon  before 
leaving,  while  sitting  on  a  rock  overlooking  the  Hudson,  in 
melancholy  reflection,  Phil  Sheridan,  later  on  Commanding 
General  U.  S.  Army,  happened  to  be  passing,  and  asked  per- 
mission to  join  me.  The  request  was  a  surprise,  as  he  was  in 
an  advanced  class  and  there  never  had  been  any  intimacy  be- 
tween us.  In  fact,  the  poor  fellow,  for  reasons  needless  to 
mention,  had  hardly  an  associate,  let  alone  an  intimate,  on 
the  place.  He  began:  "I  hear,  Sept.,  that  you  have  re- 
signed. Is  it  so  ?"  "Yes,"  was  the  reply.  "Is  it  too  late 
to  recall  your  resignation  ?"  was  his  next  query,  with  evident 
concern.  "But  I  have  no  desire  to,"  was  my  reply;  and  so 
we  parted,  after  a  few  more  words. 

If,  at  that  time,  I  had  been  called  upon  to  designate  the 
man  on  that  historic  spot  who  would  later  on  reach  the  high 
rank  Sheridan  attained,  he  would  probably  have  been  one  of 
the  very  last  to  have  come  under  consideration,  and  such,  me- 
thinks,  would  have  been  the  almost  unanimous  forecast  of  all 
who  knew  him.     Proof  that  is,  that  the  boy  is  not  always 

[92] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTUBY  AND  MOEE. 

father  of  the  man,  gauged  by  the  world's  criterion — success. 
That  he  developed  into  a  superb  cavalry  leader,  doubtless  un- 
equalled by  any  other  on  the  Federal  side,  stands  confessed. 
That  he  is  entitled  to  place  on  the  same  professional  plane 
with  Forrest,  Stuart,  or  Hampton,  is  far  more  debatable. 
Whatever  his  status  may  be  on  that  line,  I  for  one  maintain 
that  it  had  been  far  better  for  his  historic  fame  had  he  died  in 
battle  before  the  end  of  the  struggle  came.  Had  he  done  so, 
he  would  have  been  spared  the  horrible  reproach,  which  per- 
haps none  has  borne  since  Alva,  of  needlessly  desolating  an 
utterly  defenseless  country,  occupied  only  by  old  men,  women 
and  children,  wiping  out  every  vestige  of  mill,  granary  and 
smokehouse,  in  his  terrible  path ;  and  his  still  more  brutal 
boast — that  the  crow  that  followed  in  his  wake  would  have  to 
carry  his  rations  along  with  him — not  surpassed  even  by  that 
of  Attila  the  Hun — that  where  his  horse  planted  his  hoof, 
grass  never  grew  again. 

This  historic  march,  more  appropriately  Hunish  foray, 
had  counterpart  later  on  in  the  virtual  extirpation  of  the  en- 
tire tribe  of  Piegan  Indians,  regardless  of  sex,  infancy,  or 
decrepitude.  The  last  is  paralleled  in  recent  English  story 
only  by  the  massacre  of  Glencoe,  so  far  as  reading  recalls. 
Neither  is  worthy  of  imitation  henceforth  and  forevermore. 
Allusion  is  made  to  the  two  incidents  in  his  life  story  to  show 
how  easy  is  the  transition  from  racial  nobility  to  barbarian- 
ism  when  instinct  points  the  wa\. 

Perhaps  a  more  flagrant  disregard  of  inherent  rights  and 
Anglo-Saxon  liberty  than  his  forcible  arrest  of  five  members 
of  the  Louisiana  Legislature  in  their  seats,  for  partisan  pur- 
pose, cannot  be  cited.  True,  the  same  identical  outrage  was 
attempted  in  the  House  of  Commons  some  250  years  ago, 
even  down  to  the  self-same  number  of  five,  by  one  Charles 
Stuart;  'By  the  grace  of  God, etc.,  King  of  England,  etc.'  But 
our  cranky  old  progenitors,  always  serious  at  serious  juncture, 

[93] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

did  not  laugh  at  this  culmination  of  the  sportive  tricks  of  the 
aforesaid  Charles  Rex,  and  so  thej  turned  about  and  arrested 
him,  led  him  to  a  block,  and  chopped  off  his  head,  and  the 
better  thinking  portion  of  mankind  have  ever  since  ratified 
the  regicide  verdict  with:  'served  him  right.'  So  should  it 
be  with  those  in  authority,  who  disregard  the  natural,  no  less 
than  the  legal  limitations  and  restrictions  against  abuse  of 
power. 

In  striking  contrast  this  man's  career  to  that  of  his  class- 
mate and  immediate  successor  in  the  chief  army  command, 
John  M.  Schofield,  of  whom  it  can  be  truly  said :  "A  soldier 
in  war,  a  citizen  in  peace,  a  gentleman  always."  Fortunate 
would  it  be  for  Sheridan's  immediate  predecessor,  as  well  as 
for  himself  and  his  successor  one  degree  removed,  if  they 
were  entitled  to  wear  the  same  proud  badge  of  honor  without 
abbreviation.  Alas !  due  regard  for  historical  truth,  and 
what  should  be  our  national  standard,  forbids  it.  Schofield 
filled  the  bill.  The  others  had  their  ephemeral  honors  and 
emoluments  in  this  life.  Let  them  pass  on  to  their  allotted 
place  in  Dante's  dream ;  they  have  had  their  prize  rewards  on 
this  side  of  Charon's  creek,  to  the  cost  of  others. 

I  do  not  forget  that  I  am  stepping  on  new  made  graves,  nor 
have  I  forgotten  the  point  of  the  Latin  apothegm — aDe  mor- 
tuis  nil,  etc."  If  so,  let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  history  has 
been  equally  oblivious  in  handling  the  post-mortem  reputa- 
tions of  certain  worthies  with  whom  she  had  to  deal,  notably, 
Nero,  Caligula,  Commodus,  and  Domitian.  She  and  her 
scribes  have  not  been  tender-footed  or  mealy-mouthed  when- 
ever it  was  necessary  to  call  a  spade  a  spade,  or  a  tyrant  a 
tyrant.  When  a  people  grow  too  squeamish  for  such  good  old 
.English,  pure  and  undefiled,  they  have  grown  to  be  too  deli- 
cate and  refined  to  be  fit  conservators  of  English  liberty. 

Leaving  the  Military  Academy,  which  was  done  with  sin- 
cere regret  at  having  to  sever  congenial  ties,  I  next  turned  my 

[94] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AXD  MOKE. 

steps  to  the  great  school  founded  by  the  immortal  Jefferson, 
and,  like  everything  that  he  ever  did,  on  the  most  rational 
basis  of  any  other.  Educational  tyros  and  moneyed  mag- 
nates have  tried  in  vain  to  eclipse  his  handiwork  by  lordly  be- 
quests of  millions  and  tens  of  millions  on  the  gorgeous  mauso- 
lea  which  they  reared,  ostensibly  dedicated  to  learning,  but 
with  the  unmistakable  tombstone  inscription  paramount,  'to 
mortuary  vanity  and  vainglory.'  Well  be  the  motive  of 
ground  foundation  what  it  may,  they  doubtless  have  their 
utility,  even  if  learned  faculties  must  now  and  then  keep 
their  tongues  and  thinking  functions  under  curb  in  deference 
to  foundational  mandate,  when  trenching  on  topica-inter- 
dicta,  as  Galileo  did.  Jefferson's  school  was  on  the  model 
of  his  State — no  undue  restriction  on  thought  or  inculcation. 

Before  matriculating,  I  had  passed  the  summer  with  my 
father  and  family  at  the  White  Sulphur  Springs,  Vir- 
ginia. There  I  imbibed  many  of  his  beneficent  precepts. 
Handing  me  one  day  a  case  of  superb  duelling  pistols,  which 
had  been  in  service  in  the  'ould  country,'  where  such  play- 
things had  whilom  been  deemed  an  essential  adjunct  to  a 
polite  education,  he  gave  me  his  paternal  blessing  and  parting 
admonition — -"Learn  to  use  them,  my  son.  but  be  mighty 
careful  that  you  never  do,  at  ten  yards  off  or  so,  without  just, 
ample  and  sufficient  provocation."  Like  a  dutiful  son,  I 
have  heeded  his  injunction  in  both  regards.  Occupying  a 
two-room  cottage  in  a  retired  grove  all  to  myself  afforded 
excellent  opportunity  for  varying  Chitty  on  Contracts  with 
Sir  Jonah  on  Hair-triggers.  I  soon  became  a  famous  expert, 
and  although  my  nerves  are  not  steady  as  they  then  were,  still 
my  right  hand  has  not  yet  lost  its  cunning. 

God  be  praised,  I  never  have  had  to  use  them  in  the  man- 
ner intimated,  but,  on  the  contrary,  have  prevented  others 
doing  so  in  my  confidential  capacity  of  'friend,'  when  called 
on  for  their  loan,  never  compromising  the  honor  or  good  name 

[95] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

of  those  who  did  me  the  honor  to  request  the  unwelcome  ser- 
vice. And  so  I  have  long  since  had  serious  misgivings 
whether  the  duello  is  an  unmitigated  evil  under  proper  condi- 
tions, a  judicious  and  well-selected  adviser,  or  friend  if  you 
will,  always  being  the  primary  one.  Under  this,  and  other 
proper  limitations,  both  reason  and  recollection  tell  me  that  it 
might  be  a  very  salutary  check  on  bullies  and  blackguards, 
who  prefer  the  revolver-drop,  unawares,  to  a  fair  stand-up 
fight  where  neither  has  the  advantage.  As  proof  of  this,  we 
have  only  to  instance  the  overwhelming  preponderance  of 
foul  and  cowardly  killings  that  have  succeeded  the  old  and 
honored  mode  of  settling  personal  difficulties  in  the  earlier 
part  of  the  just  expired  century. 

The  next  morning,  while  still  in  bed,  I  was  honored  with  a 
visit  from  my  paternal  ancestor.  He  left  me  not  long  in 
doubt  as  to  the  motive  of  such  an  unusual  matutinal  call. 
After  due  preface  and  preamble,  he  began  much  on  the  ex- 
cathedra  ic  strain,  which  was  his  usual  style  when  wishing  to 
be  excessively  persuasive  or  rather  impressive.  "My  son, 
after  getting  your  law  license,  of  course  you  would  like  a 
year  or  two  of  foreign  travel  to  complete  your  education,  and 
such  is  my  intention."  After  thanking  him  for  this  fresh 
proof  of  his  fatherly  regard,  he  continued :  "'Yes,  travel  ex- 
pands the  ideas,  but,  of  course,  no  man  of  sense  cares  to  go 
abroad  to  gaze  at  the  monuments  of  man  until  he  has  first  be- 
held the  great  natural  curiosities  of  his  own  land,  especially 
Niagara,  the  Natural  Bridge,  and  the  Mammoth  Cave.  Now, 
you  have  two  or  three  weeks,  before  the  University  opens,  to 
run  out  to  Kentucky  and  take  in  the  last,  and  then  drop  down 
to  Nashville  and  pay  a  brief  visit  to  your  maternal  kin." 
"But,  father,"  I  put  in,  "I  do  not  care  to  see  the  old  cave ;  I 
am  very  well  satisfied  here."  "Yes,  a  little  too  well  satis- 
fied," was  his  sarcastic  rejoinder.  "The  stage  for  Guyandotte 
leaves  at  12  o'clock.     Here's  your  ticket  on  a  back  seat,  and 

[96] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  EEFLECTIONS. 

here's  a  hundred  dollars  for  the  trip.  Have  jour  trunk  on  in 
time."  Be  sure,  after  such  an  injunction,  that  trunk  was 
aboard  betimes,  for  my  slight  acquaintance  with  General  G., 
had  long  since  convinced  me  that  when  he  imparted  his  orders 
with  marked  emphasis,  he  always  meant  what  the  words  im- 
ported. But  why  that  stretch  of  emphasized  authority  ? 
After  much  subsequent  cogitation  on  the  subject,  it  has 
dawned  on  me  that  he  had  gotten  the  idea  on  the  brain  that  I 
was  falling  in  love  injudiciously,  and  he  resolved  to  blast  my 
incipient  affection  by  a  dose  of  enforced  absence.  The  rem- 
edy proved  effective  in  the  end,  if,  indeed,  the  malady  had 
really  set  in,  but  its  ministration  made  me  think  at  the  time 
that  the  General  was  a  hard  superior,  and  unfeeling  man. 

As  now  recalled,  the  trip  to  the  Ohio  then  took  two  days 
and  nights,  now  as  many  hours ;  and  a  most  disagreeable  one 
it  proved,  melting  all  day  and  freezing  all  night.  The  change 
in  that  altitude  was  intense,  but  that  was  not  the  worst  of  it. 
The  recollection  of  that  first  night  on  the  bleak  mountain-top 
sends  the  cold  shivers  over  me  whenever  it  obtrudes  itself. 
A  hold-up  by  a  lone  highwayman,  do  you  ask  ?  ~No,  nor  by 
a  dozen.  Better  had  it  been  for  my  future  peace  of  mind. 
But  the  story  calls  for  full  recital,  after  getting  thus  far  in 
the  blood-curdling  preliminaries.  No,  it  was  not  a  hold-up, 
or  a  turn-over  either.  Worse  than  the  combination.  But, 
ab  initio,  to  make  a  connected  narrative. 

When  the  stage  left  the  'White,'  there  were  two  ISTew  York 
men  of  maturer  years  than  mine  occupying  front  seats,  be- 
sides four  unmentionables,  including  two  ladies,  one  of  whom 
sat  by  me  on  the  rear  seat,  leaving  the  middle  seat  to  the 
three  others.  It  was  my  misfortune  to  have  that  brace  of 
Manhat-islanders  for  travelling  companions  for  many  days 
thereafter.  Not  that  a  tragedy  ensued.  ISTo,  owing  to  my  for- 
bearance and  sweet  disposition,  neither  of  them  died  on  the 
trip.  They  were,  on  the  whole,  good  fellows,  but  a  little 
7  [97] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

over-given  to  levity  and  frivolity.  Knowing  that  we  were  to 
be  close-mewed  up  together  for  a  long  time  to  come,  we  all 
soon  became  acquainted ;  in  fact,  might  be  said  to  be  on 
a  friendly  and  familiar  footing.  At  a  stopping-place  two  or 
three  hours  from  the  start,  an  old  gentleman  of  about  seventy 
and  a  young  lady  of  perhaps  twenty  got  in,  he  taking  the  va- 
cant front  seat,  and  she  the  vacant  rear,  the  other  one  by  me. 
They  both  looked  mighty  spank  and  spruce  in  new  duds,  and 
with  my  natural  precipitancy  in  coming  to  conclusions,  I  said 
to  myself:  the  old  gentleman  is  taking  his  pretty  grand- 
daughter on  to  a  finishing-off  school.  The  damsel  was  ex- 
ceedingly fair  to  look  upon,  and  so,  extending  the  unvoiced 
monologue,  the  next  remark  was — here's  consolation  for  you, 
my  boy,  for  the  paternal  tyranny  to  which  you  have  just  been 
subjected.  And  so,  beginning  an  acquaintance  on  platitude 
and  commonplace,  as  moonshine  tipped  the  mountaintop,  I 
was  floating  in  moonshine  and  syllabub  and  spouting  the  love 
poets  in  her  seemingly  willing  ear.  In  extenuation  for  such 
precipitancy  on  the  amatory  line,  let  it  be  said  that  the  situa- 
tion and  the  subject  were  conducive  to  it,  and  that  I  had  just 
emerged  from  semi-monastic  durance,  during  which  for  nine 
months  in  the  year  the  dear  creatures  were  regarded  as  curi- 
osities, and  to  be  caught  by  a  bob-tail  lieutenant  talking  to  or 
'walking  with  a  stray  specimen  was  out  of  sheer  envy  regarded 
as  a  dereliction  almost  tantamount  to  a  visit  to  Benny 
Havens,  whose  acquaintance  I  am  proud  to  say  I  never 
made.  Furthermore,  I  was  young,  simple,  unsophisticated, 
and  since  getting  the  better  of  normal  and  inborn  dread  of 
them,  of  a  most  impressionable  nature.  Besides,  had  not  my 
maiden  affection  just  been  crushed  by  an  arbitrary  exercise  of 
power  ? 

All  went  merry  as  a  marriage-bell  until  there  came  a  por- 
tentious  caution  from  the  front.  "Young  man,  when  you  get 
through)  with  that  nonsense,  we  would  like  to  go  to  sleep." 

[98] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

There  came  a  suppressed  double  chuckle  from  the  New  York 
corner  of  that  vehicle  in  response  to  that  broad  ill-timed  per- 
sonality. But  after  such  a  hint,  from  one  seeming  to  be  in 
authority,  all  nonsense  ceased  for  the  rest  of  that  night.  At 
the  breakfast  house  the  next  morning,  two  of  our  fellow  voya- 
gers stopped  over.  She  did  not  even  say  goodbye  to  me  at 
parting.  But,  oh,  the  scream  that  went  up  from  the  others 
as  we  were  leaving  that  hashery.  "Jones,  that  beat  the 
Bowery  all  hollow."  "Well,  I  should  say  so,"  came  the  re- 
ply; ''the  idea  of  making  love  to  a  bride  of  twelve-hours- 
standing,  in  the  very  teeth  of  her  husband,  beats  bob-tail  as 
well  as  the  Bowery."  "It's  not  so,"  I  cried ;  "she  is  his 
granddaughter."  With  that,  there  was  another  wild  explo- 
sion of  guffaw,  in  which  I  grieve  to  say  the  ladies  were  the 
loudest.  Then  followed  lame  imitations  from  Annabel  Lee, 
Maid  of  Athens,  Lalla-Rookh,  etc.,  etc.,  all  horribly  mutilated 
and  murdered. 

The  stage  was  stopped  and  I  got  out  with  the  driver,  hop- 
ing to  find  more  congenial  society,  which  came  to  wish.  The 
scenery  from  the  box  was  grand,  especially  the  far-famed 
Hawk's  Nest,  a  precipice  of  1500  feet,  apparantly  perpen- 
dicular. Bill  was  communicative  without  being  at  all  offen- 
sive. As  an  instance,  he  called  attention  to  an  over-turned 
stage  some  hundred  yards  down  the  mountain  side,  which 
had  brought  up  against  a  sapling.  "Was  any  one  killed  ?"  I 
asked  with  bated  breath.  "Well,  that's  just  what  Jim  asked 
from  up  here,"  having  jumped  off  as  he  saw  it  was  going 
down.  "Well,  what  was  the  answer  ?"  "]SFo,  but  there  will 
be  up  there  as  soon  as  I  get  to  the  top,"  replied  a  Kentuckian 
as  he  started  up  with  a  revolver.  "Did  he  wait  ?"  "Not 
Jim,  he  was  too  smart  for  that;  he  took  to  his  heels,  and  left 
them  all  to  shift  for  themselves,  and  they  had  to  walk  five 
miles  to  the  next  station." 

Although  the  river  was  exceptionally  low,  a  crippled  old 

[99] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTUEY  AND  MORE. 

stern-wheeler  picked  us  up  about  midnight,  and  in  due,  or 
rather  it  should  be  said  undue  time,  landed  us  in  Louisville. 
The  New  Yorkers  and  I  called  to  see  Porter,  the  Kentucky 
giant,  during  the  afternoon.  In  bulk  he  was  much  bigger 
than  John  C.  Calhoun  or  Andrew  Jackson,  but  there  all- 
comparison  ended.  The  next  day,  I  took  stage  for  Nashville, 
via  the  big  cave..  At  the  stopping-place,  seven  miles  short,  I 
tried  to  find  out  something  about  it  from  the  old  landlord. 
His  reply  was,  "You  will  have  to  ask  some  one  else.  I  have 
lived  here  all  my  life  but  have  never  been  there."  Here  was 
curiosity  for  you,  not  to  take  a  morning's  walk  to  see  one  of 
the  world's  greatest  wonders,  for  so  I  found  it  in  all  verity. 
The  Grotto  of  Adelsburg,  which  I  saw  later  on,  may  surpass 
it  in  scenic  effect,  but  falls  far  short  in  grandeur  and  immen- 
sity of  dimensions.  A  second  visit,  long  years  subsequently, 
only  strengthened  first  impressions. 

After  a  week's  sojourn  on  old  familiar  tramping  ground,  I 
started  back  to  the  University,  this  time  by  steam.  On  the 
train,  came  up  with  an  old  cadet  friend  with  a  funny  reminis- 
cence. Daniel  was  of  a  social  turn  and  prone  to  drop  in 
on  his  friends,  whether  in  or  out  of  study  hours  mattered 
little,  and  he  was  usually  a  welcome  visitor,  for  he  was  brim- 
ful of  Georgia  scenes,  far  surpassing  Judge  Longstreet's  in 
pith  and  point  of  narrative.  Of  course,  no  door,  even  of  the 
most  studious  of  us  delvers  after  the  unfathomable,  could  be 
closed  in  the  face  of  such  a  one  as  he.  Now,  there  is,  or 
was,  a  ridiculous  rule  or  regulation  prevailing  in  that  school, 
restricting  social  interchange  of  jokes  and  anecdotes.  No 
visiting  between  certain  hours,  it  read,  and  certain  penalties 
for  infraction,  or  words  to  that  effect.  Now,  it  so  happened 
that  at  this  particular  juncture,  the  inspecting  officer,  or 
scooper-up  of  culprits,  was  Lieutenant  Baker,  who  still  wore 
his  cadet  soubriquet  of  'Betsy  Baker,'  a  worthy  gentleman  as 
I  see  him  now,  a  veritable  sleuth-hound  as  then.     Now,  Betsy 

[100] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

had  a  knack  of  making  his  tours  of  inspection  at  the  most 
unreasonable  and  unexpected  hours,  when  ingenuous  youth 
was  least  on  the  lookout,  and  as  it  turned  out,  on  the  inaus- 
picious occasion  to  follow.  While  Daniel  was  in  the  midst 
of  a  lovely  recital  of  some  particularly  laughable  incident, 
located  of  course  down  in  Georgia,  the  jingling  of  Betsy's 
sabre  was  heard  entering  the  opposite  room.  It  took  but  a 
moment  for  Daniel  to  jump  in  the  fire-place  and  to  have  the 
screen  closed  behind  him.  Quick  as  it  was,  however,  the 
commotion  within  doubtless  aroused  Betsy's  suspicions,  as  he 
had  probably  been  along  there  himself  in  the  recent  past 
After  making  the  usual  cursory  and  perfunctory  look  around 
to  satisfy  himself  that  we  were  in  and  everything  in  place, 
he  opened  the  door,  but  closed  it  again,  leaving  the  impres- 
sion on  the  man  in  the  fire-place  that  he  had  made  his  egress. 
After  waiting  a  few  moments  for  developments,  we  heard  a 
voice  from  the  mural  tomb:  "Say,  Sep.,  hasn't  'old  Bets' 
gone  yet?"  The  reply  came  from  our  visitor:  "ISTo,  Mr. 
Daniel,  'old  Bets'  is  still  here,  waiting  to  take  your  name  and 
measure."  As  poor  Daniel  emerged  from  the  chimney,  a 
veritable  conglomerate  of  Santa  Claus  and  his  namesake  of 
the  lion's  den,  three  of  us  exploded,  but  the  fourth  one 
couldn't  see  anything  to  laugh  at. 

Arrived  at  Charlottesville,  I  at  once  entered  on  my  new 
course  of  study,  taking  the  two  tickets  of  law  and  belles  lettres 
with  political  economy  interjected  in  the  last.  The  Law 
School  was  presided  over  by  Professors  Minor  and  Holcombe, 
and  the  other  by  Professor  McGuffey,  the  famous  author  of 
the  series  of  school  readers,  which  in  their  day  were  read  in 
most  of  the  elementary  schools  of  the  land,  and  which  prob- 
ably have  never  since  been  improved  upon.  They  were 
erudite,  not  to  say  recondite,  teachers,  and  all  attained  celeb- 
rity in  their  new  sphere  of  action,  and  later  on. 

It  was  a  standing  charge  in  derogation  by  the  opponents 

[101] 


AN  auto  of  half  a  century  and  moke. 

of  the  institution,  that  few  young  men,  and  in  that  day  they 
were  usually  such,  and  not  boys,  ever  took  the  two  courses  of 
lectures  without  coining  out  thoroughly  imbued  with  'States- 
rights'  indoctrination,  and  of  such  I  was  no  exception, 
although  paternal  precepts  had  made  the  way  easy  to  that 
rational  and  orthodox  line  of  political  faith.  And  yet,  Dr. 
McGuffey,  who  was  the  brainest  schoolmaster  that  I  have  ever 
known,  after  a  somewhat  varied  and  diversified  acquaintance 
with  the  brotherhood,  was  decidedly  Federalistic  in  his  lean- 
ings and  line  of  thought — if  the  expression  may  be  used — a 
Whig  of  Whigs.  But,  like  the  wise  and  conscientious  teacher 
that  he  was,  he  would  give  the  arguments  pro  and  con  dispas- 
sionately on  great  governmental  questions,  such  as  the  Bank, 
the  Tariff,  Internal  Improvements,  etc.,  and  leave  conclusions 
to  the  judgment  of  his  hearers.  The  usual  result  of  this 
Socratic  mode  of  indoctrination  was  a  brood  of  unfledged 
States-Rights  Democrats  at  the  end  of  the  term.  For  all 
that,  I  owe  dear  old  'Guff'  a  grudge  for  forcing  a  class  dis- 
tinction on  me  in  spite  of  myself. 

All  three  of  the  gentlemen  named  were  an  honor  to  their 
profession,  and  supplied  cud  to  chew  upon  from  that  day 
to  this.  This  was  in  great  measure  due  to  freedom  from 
schoolboy  espionage  and  insensate  restraint.  The  sort  of 
young  men  then  at  that  school  required  no  such  juvenile  res- 
traint, curb,  and  oversight.  They  were  as  a  body  well  born, 
high  bred,  and  cultured  to  a  high  degree,  before  applying  for 
admission  into  the  characteristic  institution.  As  a  rule,  they 
had  reached  years  of  ordinary  discretion,  and  leaving  their 
boyish  tricks  and  sportive  tendencies  behind  them,  had  come 
there  with  fixed  purpose  to  absorb  the  modicum  of  erudition 
within  range  of  reach,  before  entering  the  great  arena  which 
they  saw  just  ahead.  They  buckled  down  to  their  work  in 
good  earnest,  and  I  with  them,  a  creditable  commonwealth 
for  an  older  community's  imitation. 

[102] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

Speaking  of  college  honors,  I  trust  my  vanity  may  be  ex- 
cused for  brief  reference  to  one  which  was  barely  missed, 
and  which  would  have  been  most  highly  prized,  though  it 
came  not  through  the  Faculty.  At  the  time  of  which  mention 
is  made,  and  presumptively  ever  since,  there  were  two  lit- 
erary, or  more  properly  speaking,  debating  societies  at  the 
University.  In  christening  these,  it  is  highly  probable  that 
the  primary  matriculates  of  two  generations  antecedent  were 
as  little  familiar  with  high  Hellenic  as  scores  of  country 
high  schools  have  been  ever  since,  which  usually  prefer  euphe- 
mistic Greek  compounds  at  the  baptismal  font  on  such  occa- 
sions, as  for  instance,  'The  Deniosthenian,"  'The  Euphema- 
sian,'  and  the  like,  to  their  good  old  honest  mother-tongue 
nomenclature.  Not  of  that  ilk  were  Mr.  Jefferson's  boys 
some  hundred  years  ago,  as  the  two  societies  were  duly  dub- 
bed 'The  Jefferson,'  and  'The  Washington,'  in  honor  of  the  two 
biggest  men  that  the  great  mother  of  big  men  had  up  to  that 
time  produced.  There  were  disputants  in  each  who  would 
not  have  shamed  Parliamentary  bodies  of  a  far  more  preten- 
tious standard,  as  many  have  since  electrified  senates  and 
shaped  governmental  polity,  while  not  a  few  fill  heroes' 
graves. 

Preferring  the  political  tenets  and  tendencies  of  Monticello 
to  those  of  Mount  Vernon,  I  was  soon  enrolled  in  the  ranks 
of  'The  Jeff,'  numerically  about  three  to  one  in  excess  of 
the  other.  On  second  or  third  appearance  in  that  forum,  I 
was  assigned  to  the  discussion  of  the  question  at  the  next  suc- 
ceeding meeting.  It  was  a  fundamental  political  question, 
and  one  fraught  with  momentous  consequences  thence  on  for- 
ever, as  it  had  been  from  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution the  most  vital  of  all.  It  involved,  or  rather  brought 
into  bold  relief,  the  legitimate  relationship  between  the  State 
and  General  Government,  naturally  trenching  on  the  right 
of  resumption  of  delegated  powers.   Recognizing  the  trans- 

[103] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

cendent  importance  of  a  true  conception  of  the  mighty  issues 
involved,  then  and  thence  on  to  Appomattox,  where  the 
glaived  hand  of  overwhelming  force  gave  the  ' Constitutional 
Federative'  system  its  quietus  forever,  I  was  as  full  of  the 
theme  in  preparation  for  that  mimic  senate  as  if  the  forensic 
tilt  was  destined  to  come  off  in  the  Capitol  before  one  of 
Catos.  Goodbye  to  text  books  for  the  week  to  follow.  I  was 
too  full  of  the  fate  of  Rome,  and  more  especially  of  another 
great  kindred  Republic,  to  give  time  or  thought  to  trivialities 
or  puerilities.  Page  after  page,  if  not  quire  after  quire,  of 
foolscap  was  spoiled  to  connect  the  line  of  thought.  The 
Madison  papers  were  analyzed  and  dissected  by  paragraph  in 
order  to  give  the  true  intent  of  the  'Framers,'  and  so  the 
'Resolution'  of  '97  and  '98,  the  Missouri  Compromise  and 
its  legitimate  offspring  in  base  bom  bastardy,  fitly  dubbed 
the  'Omnibus  Bill,'  were  torn  into  tatters  and  scattered  to  the 
four  winds.  Then  long  walks  were  taken  morning,  noon,  and 
at  nightfall,  memorizing  the  sublimity  of  thought  on  paper. 
Finally,  as  the  eventful  night  drew  on  apace,  I  felt  confi- 
dent of  reciting  my  little  piece  with  the  unbroken  fluency 
of  a  juvenile  Demosthenes,  tackling  Cassabianca  for  the  first 
time.  Alas !  the  best  laid  plans  of  mice  and  men,  etc.,  etc. 
I  was  hardly  twenty  words  deep  in  a  telling  exordium  before 
floundering  beyond  mental  depth.  In  this  initial  effort  on 
any  stage,  that  terror  of  the  tyro  or  debutant,  known  as  stage 
fright,  had  hit  a  stunning  blow  between  the  eyes.  All  con- 
nectedness of  preconceived  words  and  phraseology  vanished. 
I  felt  very  much  like  our  imported  French  riding-master  did 
at  West  Point  when  he  lost  his  saddle  in  an  incipient  charge, 
or  the  General  commanding  the  army  when  he  imitated  the 
trans-Atlantic  charlatan  by  falling  off  his  horse  the  other  day 
in  the  presence  of  the  Presidency  and  the  other  assembled 
magnates  of  the  nation.  The  business  of  each  was  to  ride, 
and  not  to  fall,   p.nd  each   doubtless  objected  to  being  the 

[104] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

special  spectacular  of  a  reversal  of  the  program.  Trenchy' 
confessed  as  much  in  saving:  'Gentil-honinies,  I  did  vish  that 
the  ground  vould  open  ven  I  fell  off  that  tarn  horse !' 
Probably,  so  thought  too  the  Grand  General  of  the  U.  S.  Ar- 
my (Miles)  as  he  felt  himself  doomed  to  such  ignominious 
exit  from  the  admiring  gaze  of  that  grand  assemblage  on  that 
giand  occasion.  If  such  was  the  thought  at  that  terrible 
moment,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  if  it  had  been  put  in  words, 
it  would  today  meet  a  hearty  'Amen'  response  in  the  past  pre- 
dicate, from  an  overwhelming  majority  of  his  countrymen, 
inclusive  of  the  best  element  of  those  under  his  immediate 
command.  Be  that  as  it  may,  there  was  a  new-fledged  as- 
pirant for  histrionic  distinction  about  that  time,  who  may  be 
supposed  to  have  felt  as  the  Count  felt  'ven  he  was  falling 
off  that  tarn  horse!'  Of  course,  it  goes  without  question  that 
the  transplanted  master  of  horse  was  a  count  and  grand  le- 
gionary, or  something  of  that  sort,  as  Uncle  Sam  has  as  little 
use  for  untitled  pretension  of  the  foreign  sort  as  have  our 
moneyed  belles  of  the  shoddy  variety. 

At  the  awful  juncture  referred  to,  when  vainly  essaying  to 
catch  on  to  the  connection  in  the  manuscript,  and  when  being 
guyed  unmercifully  by  some  three  or  four  hundred  new-made 
friends,  scarcely  a  dozen  of  whom  were  known  by  sight,  it 
became  evident  that  a  crisis  was  imminent  and  a  change  of 
base  essential.  Grasping  at  the  traditional  straw  of  the 
drowning  man,  there  was  a  hurried  colloquy  held  in  another 
debating  society  whose  hall  was  in  the  garret  of  an  individual 
cranium.  The  question  flashed  with  electric  thrill:  Why  con- 
tinue to  make  a  ninny  of  yourself  by  trying  to  recite  your 
memorized  parroty  lesson  word  by  word  ?  You  are  reason- 
ably master  of  the  subject  and  know  what  you  wish  to  say. 
Say  it.  And  so  I  did,  and  made  the  hit  of  my  life  on  the 
oracular  line,  as  then  felt,  and  ever  since  known.  Before  pro- 
ceeding five  minutes  on  the  new  lino.  e;ibes<  and  sneers  had 

[105] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

given  way  to  pretty  continuous  applause  and  cries  of  'Go  on/ 
when  time  was  up.  But  higher  proof  was  forthcoming  at  the 
next  succeeding  assembly  when  a  President  for  the  year  had 
to  be  chosen.  To  my  extreme  surprise  my  name  was  placed 
in  nomination  for  that  high  and  much  coveted  distinction,  as 
tradition  averred  that  at  least  two  years  membership  was  in- 
dispensable to  justify  a  presumptuous  eye  on  the  Chair.  I 
failed  to  reach  the  goal  by  a  single  vote,  the  successful  com- 
petitor being  the  grandson  and  namesake  of  America's  most 
famous  orator  and  himself  not  one  of  a  common  order,  being 
the  acknowledged  champion  disputant  of  the  society,  a  claim 
which  he  made  good  on  the  wider  arena  for  the  few  eventful 
years  preceding  his  untimely  end.  He  had  been  at  the  Uni- 
versity, as  I  was  told,  six  or  seven  years  battling  for  that 
recognized  highest  academic  prize,  Master  of  Arts  of  the 
University  of  Virginia.  That  year  he  was  one  of  the  half- 
dozen  aspirants  who  won  the  coveted  degree  of  A.  M. 

Recurring  to  that  adverse  majority  of  one,  it  has  been  a 
fateful  numeral  for  me  in  many,  if  not  most  of  my  electoral 
contests.  By  one  vote  I  lost  the  colonelcy  of  the  Twelfth 
North  Carolina  Regiment  in  the  early  part  of  1S63;  by  one 
vote,  failed  to  take  seat  in  the  North  Carolina  State  Senate, 
although  conceded  even  by  my  opponent  to  be  entitled  to  it 
by  two  or  three  hundred  majority.  (ISTote.  In  the  first  of  these 
I  was  not  aware  that  an  election  was  pending.  The  other 
was  in  Avar  times,  when  not  hankering  after  political  prefer- 
ment.) Nevertheless,  it  was  a  remarkable  coincidence,  which 
has  never  probably  befallen  another  with  my  limited  appetite 
for  promotion. 

It  has  been  a  standing  regret  in  later  life,  that  I  did  not 
profit  more  from  the  obvious  teaching  of  this  maiden  effort, 
namely,  that  in  all  subsequent  ones  I  had  not  placed  less  reli- 
ance on  'the  letters  Cadmus  gave/  and  attached  more  impor- 
tance to  clothing  ideas  in  less  finished  phrase,  and  in  more 

[106] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

honest,  manly,  homespun  garb.  Or  to  change  the  metaphor, 
that  manuscript  had  never  been  relied  upon  as  crutch  to 
help  a  treacherous  memory,  if  not  a  lame  and  halting  argu- 
ment. ISTo,  take  my  advice  and  follow  example  mentioned, 
oh !  sophomores ;  first  master  your  subject  and  then  get  mad 
and  go  it  blind,  regardless  of  meliferous  phrase  or  stilted  ex- 
pression. I  have  seen  many  a  self-complacent  sophomore 
(Anglicized  'wise  fool')  fool  a  crowd  of  bigger  fools  with 
words  only,  barring  a  due  infusion  of  rant  and  fustian. 

After  a  scholastic  year  at  this  model  institution,  during 
which  let  us  hope  a  due  proportion  of  intellectual  pabulum 
fell  to  my  share,  the  spirit  of  change  or  unrest  came  over 
me  again  and  prompted  fresh  pastures  green  for  omniverous 
browsing.  In  my  boyhood  town  in  Tennessee,  there  had 
lately  sprung  up  a  law  school  which,  for  the  time,  had  grown 
into  celebrity  overshadowing  all  the  others.  Although  only 
the  adjunct  of  a  country  high-school,  modestly  dubbed  Uni- 
versity, it  became  almost  from  its  birth  a  recognized  foun- 
tain-head of  legal  lore  throughout  the  land,  rivaling,  if  not 
eclipsing,  the  older  and  far  more  famous  schools  of  the  East. 
This  phenomenal  development  was  doubtless  due  to  its  being 
under  the  auspices  of  three  of  the  most  learned  judges  in 
that  State  or  any  other,  namely,  Greene,  Caruthers,  and 
Ridley,  whose  personal  and  professional  repute  gave  their 
school  name  and  fame  far  and  wide,  suggestive  of  that  of 
the  famous  Abelard,  most  renowned  teacher  of  his  time. 

I  was  prompted  to  give  up  the  University  for  this  new- 
fledged  candidate  for  forensic  fame  by  the  reflection  that 
the  succeeding  course  of  lectures  would  in  the  main  be  but 
a  repetition  of  those  just  heard,  and  the  hope  of  imbibing 
a  fresh  infusion  of  thoughts  and  ideas  by  a  change  of  in- 
structors. Without  the  slightest  reflection  on  the  others,  can- 
dor compels  the  admission  that  to  the  best  of  belief,  I  was 
not  mistaken.    A  two-mile  walk  before  and  after  was  perhaps 

[107] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOKE. 

conducive  to  reflection  and  inward  digestion  of  the  truths 
enunciated  in  previous  lectures. 

Here  I  continued  about  five  months,  when  it  occurred  to 
me  that  enough  of  my  life  had  been  spent  in  class  rooms, 
then  in  mj  twenty-fourth  year. 


[108  J 


CHAPTER  X. 

A  few  days  later  I  was  back  with  my  father  and  family 
at  the  old  St.  Nicholas  Hotel,  New  York,  then  the  leading 
caravansary  of  the  New  World,  which  goes,  without  saying, 
of  the  entire  world.  What  a  wonderful  transformation  has 
since  taken  place  in  this  field,  as  in  every  other.  Gorgeous  as 
it  was  in  its  time,  it  would  still  hardly  be  ranked  today  as 
fit  intermediate  halting  place  on  the  stage-road  of  time  be- 
tween old  Sam  Johnson's  revered  taverns  and  the  palatial 
publics  of  the  close  of  the  century,  rivaling  the  homes  of  roy- 
alty in  their  get-up  and  concomitants  of  splendor  and  mag- 
nificence. 

A  few  days  later,  after  having  been  admitted  to  practice 
before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  upon  appli- 
cation of  the  Hon.  George  E.  Badger,  perhaps  at  the  time 
the  leading  practitioner  before  that  august  tribunal,  I  waa 
duly  inducted  into  the  office  of  Walker  and  Janin,  to  which 
reference  has  already  been  made.  Well  do  I  recall  a  remark 
of  the  great  North  Carolina  jurist  at  the  hotel  that  night: 
'Young  man,  I  have  made  a  novitiate  of  you ;  you'll  have  to 
make  a  lawyer  of  yourself.'  Perhaps,  had  home  manufacture 
been  left  to  myself,  the  outcome  might  have  turned  out  a 
fairly  reasonable  success,  for  I  would  have  put  the  bottom 
rung  in  the  ladder  before  putting  in  the  topmost  one. 

My  judgment  would  have  enjoined  an  initial  before  a 
village  Dogberry,  like  other  legal  aspirants  in  the  chrysalis 
state,  instead  of  taking  the  remote  and  improbable  chance  of 
riveting  the  attention  of  America's  greatest  Chief- Justice, 
for  so  I  hold  Roger  Taney  to  have  been,  despite  a  world's  pre- 
conceived opinion.  Not  so  my  father,  who  believed  that 
altitude  in  start  would  be  conducive  to  prolonged  flight, 
oblivious  to  the  fact  that  not  every  year  or  century  can  turn 
out  a  Tom  Erskine.    My  progenitor  was  of  far-reaching  ideas 

[109] 


AN  AUTO   OF   HALF  A   CENTURY  AND   MOKE. 

and  comprehensive  grasp,  but  withal  somewhat  visionary  in 
evolution.  I  once  laughingly  told  him  that  if  he  had  antici- 
pated Fulton's  great  problem,  he  would  have  required  a  new 
born  ocean-liner  to  demonstrate  its  utility.  That  perhaps 
was  a  fraction  far-fetched  as  well  as  unfilial ;  but  still  I  be- 
lieve that  he  had  a  lurking  hope  of  springing  a  full-fledged 
jurisconsult  before  the  eyes  of  an  astonished  world  by  favor 
of  adventitious  beginning. 

Feeling  myself  wofully  handicapped  from  the  start  in 
being  thus  entered  unheralded  in  an  arena  of  world-known 
legal  gladiators,  it  was  not  calculated  to  inspire  confidence, 
but  still  feeling  a  well-grounded  reliance  at  bottom  of  being 
reasonably  well  posted  in  the  rudiments,  I  strove  on  in  the 
hope  that  Erskine's  opportunity  might  repeat  itself  in  order 
to  show  the  world  what  a  mass  of  erudition  and  legal  light 
was  being  hidden  under  a  bushel.  All  speculations  on  that 
score,  however,  were  brought  to  an  abrupt  conclusion  of  self 
and  friends,  supported  by  high  medical  authority,  that  my 
mundane  career  was  about  to  be  brought  to  a  sudden  termina- 
tion by  a  brief  winter's  sojourn  at  the  Federal  Capital,  which 
was  confirmed  a  few  days  later  by  the  celebrated  Dr.  Stone, 
of  Xew  Orleans,  who  prescribed  horseback,  ten-pins,  and 
active  out-door  exercise  generally,  to  the  exclusion  of  drugs, 
nostrums,  and  medicated  cure-alls  of  every  kind. 

Believing  that  he  knew  what  he  was  talking  about,  I 
took  the  first  boat  for  Shreveport,  bought  a  horse  and  began 
an  extended  ride  through  Texas,  which  with  the  branch-offs 
to  the  right  and  left  covered  according  to  note-book  at  the 
end  upwards  of  1,500  miles,  and  consuming  nearly  two 
months  in  making  it.  The  first  two  or  three  days  out  were 
slow  progress,  scarcely  averaging  fifteen  miles  a  day,  owing 
to  weakness  and  physical  breakdown.  In  fact,  had  it  not 
been  for  Dr.  Stone's  forecast  to  that  effect,  it  is  probable  that 
after  the  second  day  I  would  have  gone  back,  laid  down, 

[110] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

and  died.  But  pride  was  aroused  and  I  kept  on,  soon  over- 
lapping thirty  or  forty  miles  a  day  with  less  and  less  tax 
on  the  powers  of  nature.  Later  on  I  told  the  dear  old  gentle- 
man, whom  I  have  since  regarded  as  one  of  the  brainiest  of 
his  profession,  and  despite  his  rough  speech  and  at  times 
uncouth  mannerism,  one  of  the  best  of  men,  that  nothing  but 
that  prediction  kept  me  in  the  saddle  with  face  to  the  setting 
sun,  and  thus  saved  a  life  of  but  little  intrinsic  value.  To 
the  end  of  his,  we  were  friends  and  cronies  whenever  chance 
brought  us  together.  Perhaps  identity  of  political  faith  had 
something  to  do  with  cementing  the  tie.  Though  born  and 
reared  in  the  heart  of  jSTew  England,  it  was  not  in  him  to 
espouse  the  political  opinions  of  that  dogmatic  section.  He 
had  well-matured  convictions  of  his  own  in  diametrical  clash 
to  his  immediate  surroundings.  'States-rights  and  Strict- 
Construction'  was  the  shibboleth  of  his  creed;  Jefferson  and 
Calhoun  its  exponents. 

It  was  a  bleak  and  dreary  ride  with  not  a  traveling  com- 
panion a  mile  of  the  way,  and  most  of  the  distance  not  the 
sight  of  habitation  between  the  morning  start  and  the  evening 
let-up.  The  unvarying  bill  of  fare  was  substantial,  but  crew 
to  be  slightly  monotonous  after  the  first  month,  namely,  corn 
bread  and  fat  middling  drowned  in  its  own  gravy  (so  called) 
and  a  bowl  of  coffee  black  as  Tartarus,  sans  milk,  sans  sugar, 
and  almost  sans  the  berry  that  o-^ve  it  name.  Still,  know- 
ing that  it  was  the  daily  diet  of  the  entertainers,  the  inva- 
riable charge  of  one  dollar  for  man  and  beast  was  paid  after 
breakfast  without  cavil  or  complaint;  but  the  thought  forced 
itself,  why,  in  a  country  replete  with  game  and  the  streams 
with  fish,  and  no  scarcity  of  cows  in  milk  with  fattening 
calves  attendant,  can  there  not  be  a  little  diversity  in  the 
menu  by  way  of  variety  ?  Reckon  they  never  thought  of  it. 
Still,  a  good  appetite  after  a  long  day's  ride  rarely  failed  me 
at  table,  and  perhaps  that  was  one  of  the  most  efficacious  in- 

[lll] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOKE. 

gredients  in  old  Stone's  prescription.  Be  that  as  it  may,  at 
the  journey's  end  I  had  left  an  ugly  graveyard  cough  far 
in. the  rear,  and  was  some  twenty  pounds  plus  in  avoirdupois. 
The  recipe  is  given  for  the  benefit  of  others  like  inclined,  or 
rather  predisposed. 

But  despite  the  monotony  of  the  journey,  there  were  occa- 
sional interludes  of  variety,  amusing  it  may  be  to  the  reader, 
if  not  always  agreeable  to  the  writer,  or  rather  the  rider. 
A  few  such  episodes  are  given  by  way  of  variety. 

One  day  about  noon  I  watered  and  staked  old  Jim,  ate  the 
usual  lunch  of  fat  bacon  and  corn-dodger,  stretched  out  and 
took  the  usual  hour's  siesta,  saddled,  and  resumed  the  road. 
Let  it  be  premised,  it  was  a  cloudy  day.  Towards  the  close 
of  it,  half  familiar  landmarks  began  to  appear  in  view,  and 
soon  the  countenance  of  my  late  host  was  seen  over  the 
fence.  Then  the  awful  truth  became  manifest  that  the  mid- 
day nap  had  lost  a  day  by  turning  me  on  the  back  track,  and 
cost  me  a  laugh. 

Jim  was  an  equine  of  unusually  amiable  traits,  but  he  was 
not  cut  out  for  the  cavalry,  for  he  had  an  unconquerable  aver- 
sion to  the  detonation  of  fire-arms,  and  a  jaw  that  a  Mexican 
curb  could  scarce  control  when  once  aroused.  I  had  a  kindred 
aversion  to  rattlesnakes,  and  whenever  I  came  across  one 
of  the  vile  creatures  coiled  up  and  sunning  himself  on  the 
roadside,  the  temptation  to  try  a  shot  was  too  great  to  be 
withstood.  On  the  instant,  'James'  was  off  like  a  cannon-ball, 
and  lucky  it  was  if  he  could  be  brought  to  a  hold-up  under  a 
mile.  Then  followed  a  more  deliberate  ride  on  the  retro- 
grade to  recover  lost  possessions,  a  hat  here,  an  overcoat  be- 
yond, next  a  saddlebag,  and  perhaps  Jim's  obnoxious  revolver 
near  the  starting  point.  After  two  or  three  runaways  for  like 
needless  cause  and  provocation,  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  game  was  not  worth  the  cartridge,  and  did  my  best  to 
call  a  truce  by  withstanding  temptation,  but  it  took  time  to 

[112] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE, 

eradicate  a  settled  conviction  in  the  head  of  that  idiotic 
quadruped,  namely  that  rattlers  got  in  the  road  on  purpose  to 
be  shot  at,  and  so,  for  a  long  while,  he  was  off  as  soon  as  he 
saw  or  scented  one  of  the  vile  things. 

A  couple  of  days  later  on,  Jim's  pyrotechnic  nerves  were 
near  being  tested  on  larger  and  ignobler  game.  After  a  lone- 
some day's  ride  with  scarcely  a  cabin  in  sight  on  the  route, 
I  struck  a  fence  enclosing  an  improved  plantation.  My 
mouth  watered  at  the  prospect  of  anticipatory  good  cheer 
for  the  night,  and  suitable  the  time  and  occasion  for  just 
about  that  time  an  'incipient  'Norther,'  as  it  seemed,  put  in 
an  appearance,  accompanied  by  the  most  terrific  rainfall  that 
I  have  ever  known,  with  one  exception  and  that  on  the 
Nile,  where  a  drop  of  water  was  reputed  not  to  have  fallen 
for  seven  years  antecedent  Commend  me,  or  rather  com- 
mend some  other,  to  those  arid  lands  where  it  rains  only  with 
the  advent  of  the  census  taker. 

Following  the  fence  for  a  mile  brought  rne  in  front  of  a 
neatly  framed  house,  whose  piazza  was  almost  on  the  road. 
I  had  heard  of  a  drowned  rat;  I  felt  like  two,  with  icicles 
trickling  from  collar  to  boots.  Almost  without  waiting  to 
ask  permission  I  proceeded  to  dismount,  and  then  came  the 
ominous  veto:  'Don't  get  down ;  you  can't  come  in.'  Almost 
dumbfounded  with  surprise  and  indignation,  I  reached  over 
and  unbuckled  the  right  flap  of  the  saddlebags,  and  proceeded 
to  read  the  cur  a  moral  lecture,  more  emphatic  than  unctious, 
on  the  recognized  laws  of  hospitality.  Before  the  lesson  was 
well  under  way,  he  remarked,  with  a  profane  prefix,  that 
he  had  heard  enough  and  that  I  had  better  move  on,  adding, 
by  way  of  stimulus,  perhaps  that  double-barrel  behind  the 
door  may  expedite  your  movements.  Now  that,  under  the 
circumstances,  was  more  than  my  grandfather,  'the  man  of 
Uz,'  who  was  reputed  one  of  monumental  patience,  could 
have  borne  without  losing  his  equanimity.  It  can  not  be 
8  [  113  J 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

truthfully  alleged  that  I,  who  came  by  descent  into  possession 
of  much  of  that  commendable  trait,  preserved  it  unscathed 
under  such  a  threat  with  preliminary  provocation.  I  was 
mad  from  the  start,  and  kept  on  getting  madder  until  he 
dared  this  cowardly  bombast. 

Then  he  was  admonished  not  to  move  out  of  his  tracks 
until  he  heard  a  homily  on  courtesy  and  good  breeding,  under 
penalty  of  never  laying  hands  on  a  double-barrel  again.  Am 
glad  to  say  he  heeded  the  fatherly  counsel  thus  given,  and  so 
obviated  the  necessity  for  a  more  heated  altercation.  In  re- 
sponse to  his  platitude  that  a  man's  house  is  his  castle,  as 
much  was  graciously  conceded,  but  a  counter  claim  was  in- 
terpolated, namely,  that  the  king's  highway  is  common  to  all 
men,  and  for  the  time  I  held  the  highway.  The  use  of  the 
ambiguous  term  may  have  induced  the  belief  on  his  mind 
that  he  was  having  to  do  with  one  of  Dick  Turpin's  sort.  Be 
that  as  it  may,  it  gladdens  an  old  man's  heart  to  report  that 
the  claim  to  respective  suzerainty  was  mutually  acquiesced 
in.  During  the  interesting  colloquy  Jim  was  remarkably 
quiescent  for  one  of  his  restive  nature,  and  seemed  to  say 
as  plainly  as  a  horse  could  say  'If  you  would  like  to  take  one 
shot  at  the  thing,  old  man,  I'll  try  and  stand  it.' 

A  mile  or  so  further  on  we  reached  an  unpretentious  cabin, 
whose  occupant  was  an  inborn  gentleman.  He  put  me  in 
front  of  a  rousing  fire,  gave  a  drink  of  new  corn  whiskey 
to  thaw  me  out,  went  out  and  groomed  Jim,  and  then  came 
back  and  did  the  same  for  me,  rubbing  me  down  in  no  gentle 
currycombing,  for  well  he  realized  that  I  was  on  the  verge 
of  physical  collapse.  Then  he  wrapped  me  up  in  his  old  over- 
coat, made  me  take  another  stiff  drink  of  the  best  tipple  he 
had  to  offer,  and  then  ushered  me  into  the  next  room,  where 
I  sat  down  to  the  most  enjoyable  meal  that  has  ever  passed  the 
lips  of  man,  and  that  is  a  no  small  compliment  from  one 
who  has  since  eaten  hash  at  many  of  the  most  renowned  hos- 

[114] 


AN"  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

telries  on  the  civilized  globe.  Imprimis,  a  queenly  welcome 
from  the  lady  who  had  prepared  it,  then  a  venison  steak  prop- 
erly gotten  up,  supplemented  with  biscuit,  fresh  butter  and 
buttermilk,  and  to  cap  the  climax,  a  cup  of  good  honest  hot 
coffee  with  concomitants  of  milk  and  sugar.  Rest  assured 
that,  like  'Dalgetty  of  Drumthwacket,'  full  justice  was  done 
to  a  spread  like  that  after  a  month  of  unwelcome  deglutition. 
That  dear  dame  had  evidently  spread  herself  on  that  get-up, 
and  I  have  loved  her  ever  since,  platonically,  for  doing  it.  It 
was  evidently  designed  as  a  pure  charity  entertainment  to  a 
half  frozen,  half  drowned,  half  starved  poor  devil,  who  had 
been  unexpectedly  cast  upon  their  bounty.  They  were  people 
who  had  evidently  known  better  times,  but,  better  far,  knew 
how  to  adapt  themselves  to  the  reverse  of  fortune. 

While  discussing  his  neighbor's  contemptible  conduct  over 
the  after-supper  pipe,  I  remarked  that  I  offered  to  bet  him 
ten  dollars  to  a  postage  stamp  that  he  wasn't  born  and  bred 
in  our  Southern  regions.  "And  you  would  have  won  the 
wager  if  he  had  taken  you  up,"  was  the  reply,  'for  he  saw 
first  daylight  nearer  the  St.  Lawrence  than  the  Potomac." 
A  good  night's  rest,  a  hearty  good-morning,  and  a  good 
breakfast,  gave  me  a  morning  start  in  a  good  humor,  en- 
hanced by  the  parting  injunction — ''Call  again  and  stay 
longer,  whenever  you  are  in  these  parts." 

Falling  into  a  meditative  mood,  I  said:  Why  the  antipodal 
dissimilarity  between  these  two  men  living  within  a  stone's 
throw  of  each  other,  the  one  churl,  pure  and  simple,  and 
the  other  the  chevalier,  fresh,  refined,  from  nature's  mould  ? 
The  answer  came :  the  better  kind,  like  the  poet,  is  born,  not 
made ;  the  baser  sort  is  ubiquitous  and  ever  reaches  his  legiti- 
mate level  in  spite  of  birth  and  fortune.  Here  in  this 
sparsely  settled  country  was  illustration.  But  there  is  too 
much  thought  wasted  on  the  churl. 

A  little  later  on  I  arrived  in  the  historic  and  picturesque 

[115] 


KECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

town  of  San  Antonio,  destined  to  be  my  abiding  place  for 
many  months  thereafter,  most  of  which  was  agreeably,  if  not 
always  profitably,  spent.  Even  at  that  early  day,  it  gave 
promise  of  soon  becoming  what  it  has  since  attained  to,  a 
populous  and  elegantly  built  and  beautiful  city,  in  place  of 
the  straggling  village  of  a  few  thousand  inhabitants,  as  it 
then  loomed  up.  Still  I  do  not  think  I  would  enjoy  denizen- 
ship  within  its  gorgeous  borders  now,  as  then,  when  composed 
in  the  main  of  modest  two-story  structures  and  Mexican 
adobes. 

It  was  then  the  most  unique,  whole-souled  and  interesting 
place  that  I  have  known  before  or  since,  and  like  an  honored 
avuncular  of  mine,  some  three  or  four  generations  anterior, 
ISTatt  Macon  by  name,  I  have  never  taken  much  stock  in  big 
towns,  holding  with  him  in  an  expressed  opinion  in  Congress, 
to  all  intents,  that  they  foster  a  greed  of  pecuniary  gain 
conducive  to  selfishness  and  subversive  too  of  patriotism  and 
most  other  heroic  virtues,  and  thanking  Heaven  that  he  rep- 
resented a  State  that  was  not  blessed,  or  cursed,  accordingly 
as  viewed,  with  any  big  towns.  Query :  Does  that  fact  account 
for  his  State  having  the  lowest  criminal  record  up  to  the 
Avar,  and  the  highest  war  record  for  the  four  years  to  follow  ? 
Or  may  not  those  two  blessed  deterring  agencies,  the  gallows 
and  the  whipping-post,  have  had  a  hand  in  the  first,  and  in- 
herent love  of  liberty,  due  to  pure  and  unmixed  cradle  milk 
from  Anglo-Saxon  fount,  have  had  much  to  do  with  the  last 
statistically  established  fact?  But  I  am  anticipating.  To 
come  back. 

This  primitive  town,  even  then  surpassing  in  natural  at- 
tractiveness any  within  memory's  recall  today,  was  suggestive 
of  and  conducive  to  the  Italian's  'dulce  far  niente'  or 
Lethean  dream  life.  Mere  respiration  in  such  a  climate  and 
such  surroundings  was  such  a  luxury  that  it  was  prone  to 
make  one,  and  especially  one  barely  out  of  the  jaws  of  the 

[116] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOKE. 

grim  monster,  supremely  oblivious  to  all  sublunary  things 
beyond.  The  two  chiefest  charms  of  this  ideal  spot  were  the 
San  Antonio  and  San  Pedro  Rivers,  two  lovely  pellucid 
streams,  having  their  source  a  short  distance  above  the  town 
from  immense  springs,  and  rushing  through  it  almost  with 
the  velocity  of  mountain  torrents.  The  population  was  of  a 
heterogeneous  type  and  varied  character,  running  through 
all  gradations,  from  the  lowly  'greaser'  to  the  refined  and 
cultivated  gentleman,  with  the  intermediate  interstices  filled 
in  with  a  motley  crew  of  professional  horse  thieves,  swagger- 
ing ruffians,  and  riff-ran"  generally,  whose  constant  study 
seemed  to  be  to  bully  their  betters,  as  far  as  a  discreet  regard 
for  their  own  precious  carcasses  would  permit  them  to  go; 
a  class  sui  generis. 

One  of  this  last-named  sort  had  attained  to  State  celebrity 
in  the  annals  of  crime  and  blood-thirstiness  before  my 
arrival.  His  name,  unless  mistaken,  was  Bill  Johnson,  and 
he  enjoyed  the  enviable  repute  with  his  fellows  of  having 
killed  seven  men  in  street  brawls  before  reaching  the  voting 
age.  Bill  was  a  hero  in  his  own  conceit  and  proud  of 
his  early  acquired  honors  and  incipient  fame,  as  subjoined 
illustration  will  show.  It  is  almost  a  verbatim  sketch  of  a 
preliminary  trial  in  which  he  was  the  principal  party  and 
I  an  interested  looker-on.  It  was  so  unique  and  peculiar  that 
it  is  reproduced  in  full  as  to  essentials. 

It  took  place  in  the  court-house  in  Seguin.  The  charge  was 
petit-larceny,  brought  by  a  little  Irish  bar-keeper,  who  alleged 
that  Mr.  Johnson  had  made  over-free  with  his  'till.'  "Have 
you  counsel  ?"  the  magistrate  asked.  <fNo,  and  I  don't  want 
any,"  was  the  impudent  reply ;  "I  always  attend  to  my  own 
law  business."  Continuing,  he  added  with  insolent  bravado, 
walking  about  the  bar  in  his  shirt  sleeves,  "This  is  not  the 
first  time,  your  Honor,  that  I  have  had  to  stand  trial 
at  the  bar  of  my  country;  but  I  am  proud  to  say,  it  is  the 

[117] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

first  that  I  have  ever  been  called  upon  to  answer  contempti- 
ible,  lying  charge  of  that  dirty  Irish  rascal.  Heretofore,  it 
has  always  been  for  killing  my  man  in  fair  and  honest  fight. 
I  have  laid  out  seven  of  them,  and  there  stands  the  eighth,  as 
soon  as  I  am  out  of  the  clutches  of  the  law." 

"Sure,  and  it's  meself  will  look  after  that,"  was  Pat's 
cool  rejoinder.  That  night  a  revolver  was  emptied  into  Bill's 
sleeping  apartment  in  the  county's  free  boarding-house;  but 
the  fellow's  time  had  not  yet  come.  The  next  night  he  was 
out  and  off  again.  A  few  weeks  later  he  "laid  out'  his  num- 
ber eight  (not  Pat)  in  Waco,  and  the  citizens  concluding 
that  he  had  had  his  full  complement  of  fun,  tied  a  rope 
around  his  neck  and  dropped  him  out  of  second  story  window, 
and  so  final  exit  of  this  unmitigated  young  demon. 

Another  incident,  a  little  later  on,  showing  the  efficacy 
of  assertive  right  in  checking  unsanctioned  wrong,  and  I 
give  the  go-by  to  the  whole  brood  of  law-breakers  of  the  most 
villainous  class,  believed  to  be  an  organized  gang  of  mur- 
derers, horse- thieves,  etc.  Indictments,  arrests,  and  legal 
trials,  were  regarded  by  the  culprits  with  comparative  indif- 
ference, knowing  the  saving  grace  in  packed  juries  with  one 
or  more  of  their  pals  ever  in  the  panel. 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  at  that  time,  when  the  cor- 
respondent state  followed,  usually  termed  self-protection. 
Events  had  culminated  to  the  point  of  clash,  law  or  no  law, 
and  none  of  our  blood  can  doubt,  when  reduced  to  that  fine 
point,  what  the  rendition  of  verdict  would  be.  Immunity 
from  control  had  made  the  law-breaking  class  presumptuous 
and  over-bold,  until  one  fine  day  they  saw  themselves  con- 
fronted by  a  published  black-list,  containing  a  few  score 
names  of  their  number,  with  due  caution  to  keep  out  of  the 
corporate  limits  of  the  town  thence-forward,  under  penalty 
for  infraction.  The  next  day  about  half  their  number,  armed 
to  the  teeth,  rode  through  the  streets  and  with  whoops  and 

[118] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

yells  bade  defiance  to  all  authority.  The  preconcerted  signal 
soon  brought  the  better  elements  together,  and  a  squad  of 
volunteers  quickly  dislodged  them  from  a  house  of  low  repute, 
in  which  they  took  refuge  behind  barricades.  Four  or  five 
of  their  number,  I  believe,  paid  the  penalty  of  their  fool- 
hardiness.  The  next  morning  seven  more  were  found  sus- 
pended from  a  live-oak,  just  below  the  town,  the  coroner's 
verdict  being,  "did  it  themselves ;"  probably  the  most  remark- 
able instance  of  infections  felo  de  se  on  record.  Thence  on 
during  my  stay,  at  least,  San  Antonio  was  virtually  the 
synonym  of  law  and  good  order.  Comment :  Nothing  like 
drastic  remedies  for  deep-seated  disorders. 

In  those  days  it  was  not  deemed  a  prudent  thing  for  a 
man  to  pay  an  evening  call  without  his  faithful  revolver,  as 
I  had  reason  to  know  on  more  than  one  occasion.  But  rele- 
gating the  class  to  which  reference  is  had  to  the  rear,  I  come 
now  to  speak  of  a  different  order  of  beings,  men  who  in  the 
next  half-a-dozen  years  had  made  and  were  making  imperish- 
able history. 

San  Antonio  was  at  that  time  the  headquarters  of  the 
Department  of  Western  Texas,  and  such  a  brilliant  galaxy 
of  high-toned  educated  men  and  lovely  and  accomplished 
women  has  rarely,  if  ever,  been  congregated  in  a  frontier  town 
of  the  same  proportions.  There  was  Irvin  McDowell,  a  little 
later  on  Commanding  General  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac, 
where  he  was  overmatched  and  sent  to  the  rear  in  hot  haste, 
as  was  his  successor  later  on,  the  redoubtable  John  Pope,  of 
veracious  memory,  almost  on  the  self-same  spot.  John  was 
not  a  fixture  on  the  Staff,  being  engaged  at  the  time  in  boring 
wells  on  the  "Llano  Estacado" ;  but,  to  relieve  the  tedium  of 
such  dry  monotonous  work,  he  would  occasionally  run  down 
to  the  city,  where  he  was  always  welcome,  owing  to  his  geni- 
ality and  gift  of  gab. 

It  will  be  recalled  by  some  that  he  usually  began  his  bul- 

[119] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

letins  to  the  War  Office  with  the  grandiloquent  caption — 
"Headquarters  in  the  saddle/'  until  a  witticism  of  old  Jubal 
Early  made  him  the  butt  of  both  armies.  "Old  Abe,"  quoth 
that  man  of  emphasis,  "must  be  getting  to  have  a  low  opinion 
of  our  fighting  qualities  when  he  sends  down  a  prefixed  fool 
to  whip  us,  one  who  locates  his  headquarters  where  his  hind- 
quarters properly  belong."  Up  to  that  time  he  had  placed 
General  Lee  and  his  army  hors  de  combat  two  or  three  times 
over,  according  to  his  own  reliable  reports.  The  whole  North 
went  wild  over  his  marvellous  achievements,  and  he  to  well- 
deserved  destruction  for  trying  to  scale  an  insurmountable 
"Stonewall,"  which  had  mysteriously  appeared  to  the  rear  of 
his  "hindquarters."  For  all  that,  he  was  not  a  born  soldier 
in  the  broad  acceptation  of  the  term;  he  was  a  fellow  of  in- 
finite jest,  and  quaint  conceits;  probably,  the  only  man  who 
ever  attended  his  own  funeral  as  a  frolic.  In  his  days  of 
drink  and  youthful  indiscretion,  (both  of  which  he  bravely 
overcame,)  the  odd  fancy  struck  him  to  see  how  big  a  mor- 
tuary turn-out  his  death  would  call  forth.  With  the  assist- 
ance of  a  brother  officer,  not  exempt  from  the  like  amiable 
weaknesses,  all  of  the  ante-mortem  preliminaries  were  duly 
arranged  and  the  corpse  and  the  chief -mourner  were  duly  in- 
stalled in  the  hearse,  minus  the  two  boxes,  with  curtains 
down,  before  the  other  carriages  began  to  arrive.  By  precon- 
cert with  the  final  officiate,  the  procession  began  to  move 
on  time,  and  tradition  (from  which  veracious  chronicled  facts 
are  collated)  doth  aver  that  it  was  one  of  the  grandest 
affairs  of  the  sort  ever  seen  in  St.  Louis  up  to  that  time,  but 
the  line  of  march  set  at  naught  the  geometrical  definition  of  a 
straight  line.  Right  angles  were  made  every  square  or  two, 
for  John  wanted  to  see  the  town  and  he  wanted  the  town 
to  see  him.  After  pursuing  this  zig-zag  course  for  some 
time,  a  halt  was  called  in  front  of  a  saloon  by  the  occupants  of 
the    dead-wagon   for   a   little   refreshment.      As    soon    as    it 

[120] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTUEY  AND  MOEE. 

leaked  out  that  the  whole  thing  was  a  sell  and  a  put-up  job, 
the  question  was  raised  amongst  the  pall-bearers  and  chief 
mourners  whether  it  would  not  be  a  pity  to  spoil  such  a 
beautiful  burying  ground  for  the  lack  of  a  real  dead  man  or 
two.  The  story  continueth  that  the  two  funny-fellows  came 
very  near  supplying  the  desideratum,  and  no  small  amount 
of  diplomacy  on  a  matter  of  fact,  old  fellow  in  Washington, 
to  prevent  the  removal  of  two  pair  of  epaulettes  from  their 
shoulders.     So  ran  the  story  five  and  forty  years  ago. 

Major  Don  Carlos  Buell  was  another  member  of  that  staff, 
and  doubtless  one  of  the  brainiest  of  them  all.  He  it  was 
who,  at  critical  juncture,  did  the  Confederacy  most  grievous 
hurt  of  any  other.  It  has  persistently  been  claimed  by  one 
side,  and  generally  conceded  by  the  other,  that  Grant's  army 
was  utterly  routed  and  demoralized  when  the  great  Confed- 
erate commander  fell  at  Shiloh  at  the  moment  of  supreme 
and  decisive  victory,  thus  devolving  the  command  upon  an 
utter  incompetent,  who  obligingly  called  a  halt  and  awaited 
the  arrival  of  Grant's  indispensable  reinforcements  during 
the  night.  These  under  Buell,  then  a  Major-General,  duly  re- 
ported before  daybreak  and  in  a  trice  undid  the  magnificent 
work  of  the  previous  day,  turning  a  glorious  victory  into  an 
ignoble  defeat.  Wellington  might  have  finished  his  work  at 
Waterloo  without  Blucher.  The  possibility  of  such  an  out- 
come for  Grant  on  the  sequel  of  Shiloh  without  Buell  is  an 
over-tax  on  human  credulity,  even  overweighted  as  the  Con- 
federates were  in  their  new  Commanding  General.  Weighed 
by  results,  it  was  the  most  portentous  night  march  in  the  an- 
nals of  war.  Imprimis,  as  given  above,  resultant  effects,  the 
conversion  of  the  badly  beaten  general  of  one  day  into  the 
over-towering  hero  of  the  next,  as  he  continues  to  be,  judged 
by  results. 

Lieutenant  Kenner  Garrard,  adjutant  of  the  post,  as  he 
had  been  of  the  corps  of  cadets  in  his  graduating,  and  my  ini- 

[121] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

tial  year,  was  one  of  the  finest  specimens  of  physical  develop- 
ment that  I  have  ever  seen.  Standing  bare-foot  above  six  feet 
in  stature,  and  duly  proportioned,  he  seemed  of  a  verity  a 
modern  descendant  of  Mars  or  Apollo,  or  a  combination  by 
transmission  of  inherent  traits.  His  internal  organism 
seemed  to  be  in  entire  accord  with  the  physique,  suave,  gran- 
diose, gentle,  straight,  and  straighforward.  Our  relations  on 
the  Hudson  were  barely  of  the  speaking  order;  on  the  San 
Antonio,  they  soon  grew  into  intimacy,  owing  perhaps  to  a 
kindred  soul.  He  loathed  pretension  and  sham,  as  I  have 
always  tried  to  do.  As  his  next  friend,  I  required  him  to 
cane  his  man  in  public,  in  order  to  place  the  onus  of  challenge 
where  it  properly  belonged,  and  like  a  man  he  did  it,  thus 
reversing  an  overwhelming  popular  sentimental  verdict,  and 
better  still,  eliciting  the  commendation  and  approval  of  the 
great  war  secretary  of  that  day,  Jefferson  Davis  by  name. 
Hesitancy  in  decision  would  have  given  the  other  party 
choice  of  weapons,  which  owing  to  his  mastery  of  one  was 
tantamount  to  one-side  shooting.  The  sequel  to  the  story  is 
given  in  the  annexed  excerpt  from  General  Johnston's  biogra- 
phy of  his  son,  Colonel  W.  P.  Johnston.  He  became  a  Major- 
Gen  eral  of  Cavalry,  U.  S.  A.,  as  he  would  in  C.  S.  A.,  had 
he  been  born  a  mile  southwards. 

Albert  Sidney  Johnston,  Colonel  of  the  Second  Cavalry 
and  in  command  of  the  Department,  Western  Texas,  was  even 
at  that  day  a  recognized  soldier  of  the  highest  order  of  merit. 
In  face,  physique  and  mental  acquirement,  rarely  matched  in 
his  own  or  any  antecedent  age.  Mild,  modest,  gentle  and 
reserved,  he  was,  to  a  degree  almost  phenomenal  in  one  of  his 
transcendent  worth.  A  fuller  synopsis  of  my  estimate  of  this 
superb,  or  to  make  it  stronger,  almost  matchless  character, 
was  published  twenty-five  years  ago  in  the  great  biography  by 
his  worthy  son,  Colonel  William  Preston  Johnson,  then  and 
to  his  death,  the  President  of  Tulane  University,  which  is 

herewith   reproduced. 

[1221 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

It  was  my  proud  privilege  to  be  the  friend,  or  rather  to  be 
repeatedly  befriended  by  such  a  man  as  he  was.  I  loved  and 
revered  him  next  to  a  father  in  life,  and  the  admiration 
grows  continually  since  his  heroic,  but  most  unfortunate  and 
ill-fated  death.  I  can  but  repeat  as  undoubting  what  was 
written  a  quarter  of  a  century  since,  that  had  his  priceless  life 
been  spared  one  brief  hour  longer  the  Confederate  States 
would  have  taken  their  place  at  the  Council  Board  of  nations. 
Almost  as  much  can  be  said  of  the  greatest  of  all  lieutenants, 
Thomas  J.  Jackson.  If  the  end  of  these  two  irreplaceable 
men  was  ordained  above,  let  us  not  repine,  but  who  can  know 
until  the  dark  river  is  crossed  and  shadows  are  commingled. 


123 


CHAPTER  XI. 

EXCERPT  FROM  BIOGRAPHY  WRITTEN  BY  HIS 
SON,  COL.  WILLIAM  PRESTON  JOHNSTON. 

"General  Johnston's  influence  with  young  and  ardent  men 
was  very  great.  Two  illustrations  of  this  are  given  by  a  de- 
voted friend  and  admirer,  whose  terms  of  laudation  I  have 
sometimes  omitted,  though  I  have  naturally  accepted  them 
as  genuine  and  just.  He  was  the  son  of  a  friend  of  General 
Johnston,  and  having  settled  at  San  Antonio  as  a  lawyer 
while  the  latter  had  his  headquarters  there,  was  at  once  put 
upon  familiar  terms  with  him  and  his  family.     He  says : 

"I  regard  the  hours  spent  with  them  as  among  the  happiest 
and  best  improved  of  my  life.  I  have  long  since  recognized 
that  his  interest  was  purely  the  result  of  a  desire  to  guard  the 
son  of  an  old  friend  against  the  temptations  of  youth  incident 
to  a  frontier  town.  During  the  two  years  that  I  was  a  con- 
stant visitor  under  his  roof  he  could  not  have  been  kinder  or 
more  considerate  if  I  had  been  his  own  son,  as  the  incidents 
alluded  to  will  go  to  show." 

The  writer  goes  on  to  narrate  how,  a  personal  altercation 
having  arisen  between  an  officer  of  the  Second  Cavalry  and 
another  person,,  he  was  engaged  to  act  as  the  friend  of  the 
former.  Unfortunately  the  correspondence  passed  to  such  a 
point  that  he  felt  constrained  to  advise  his  principal  that,  in 
the  event  of  an  anticipated  contingency,  he  must  kill  his  an- 
tagonist on  sight,  pledging  himself  to  do  the  same  to  any 
other  man  who  should  interfere. 

"That  night  between  ten  and  twelve  o'clock,  General 
Johnston  entered  his  room,  and  enquired  whether  he  had 
given  such  advice.  Before  answering,  my  informant  asked 
General  Johnston  whether  he  proposed  to  take  official  action 
in  the  premises.  On  his  replying  that  he  did  not  propose  to 

[124] 


GENERAL  ALBERT  SYDNEY  JOHNSTON. 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOBE. 

avail  himself  of  his  position  to  interfere  officiously  in  the 
affair,  he  was  told  that  such  had  been  the  advice  given.  Gen- 
eral Johnston  then  asked  whether  he  had  counted  the  cost 
and  weighed  the  possible  consequences ;  and  was  told  that  he 
had,  and  that  he  had  advised  the  course  that  he  himself 
would  have  adopted  if  principal,  though  he  knew  it  must  lead 
to  a  bloody  street  brawl.  To  General  Johnston's  expressed 
hope  that  he  might  convince  him  that  his  action  was,  to  say 
the  least,  precipitate,  he  replied,  that  he  feared  the  task  was 
hopeless.  'But,'  to  use  the  language  of  my  informant,  'he 
did,  at  length,  succeed,  by  the  mathematical  argument  of 
honor  and  the  inexorable  logic  of  the  code,  in  inducing  me  to 
withdraw  my  counsel  and  leave  my  friend  free  to  act  after 
a  plan  which  he,  General  Johnston,  suggested.  I  now  know 
that  it  was  the  wisest  and  best  that  could  have  been  adopted, 
and  that  by  its  substitution  for  mine  I  have  been  saved  a  life- 
long term  of  remorse  and  self-reproach.  .  .  Xot  for  world's 
now,  would  I  have  had  my  advice  followed.  General  John- 
ston was  probably  the  one  man  in  the  world  who  could  have 
prevented  it,  and  his  arguments  were  the  only  ones  that 
could  have  proved  effectual.'  Both  of  these  young  men  at- 
tained high  rank  and  distinction  in  the  Civil  War ;  the  writer 
of  the  above  in  the  Confederate  Army  and  his  principal  in  the 
Federal  Army. 

"The  other  incident  occurred  at  the  crisis  of  the  Nicara- 
gua fillibustering  fever,  and  is  narrated  as  follows  by  my  in- 
formant : 

"  'A  battalion  was  raised  in  and  around  San  Antonio  to  go 
to  General  Walker's  assistance,  and  I  was  waited  upon 
by  a  committee  to  know  whether  I  would  accept  a  command. 
1ST othing  could  have  been  more  consonant  to  my  feelings  at 
the  time;  but,  for  some  reason,  I  demanded  until  the  next 
day  before  returning  an  answer,  suggesting,  in  the  mean- 
time, to  swell  the  numbers  by  additional  recruits. 

[125] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

While  that  was  going  on  that  night  quite  briskly  in  the 
plaza,  General  Johnston  came  along,  and,  taking  me  by  the 
arm,  asked  me  to  accompany  him  out  of  the  crowd. 

"  'Then  turning  to  me,  he  desired  to  know  whether  it  was 
true  that  I  proposed  going  on  such  a  wild-goose  chase.  On 
being  told  that  such  was  my  intention,  he  replied :  'My  young 
friend,  think  twice,  and  think  seriously,  before  taking  this 
step ;  because,  in  all  likelihood,  it  is  the  turning  point  in 
your  life.'  " 

Admitting  that  in  youth  the  impulse  was  natural,  and  re- 
ferring to  analogous  cases  in  his  own  career,  he  continued : 
"The  days  of  Quixotism  are  past,  and  with  them  the  chance 
for  name  and  fame  in  all  such  enterprises  as  this. 

The  age  is  materialistic,  and  he  who  goes  about  in  search 
of  windmills  and  giants  is  apt  to  be  considered  a  fit  candidate 
for  Bedlam. 

The  question,  however,  wears  a  moral  aspect,  which  should 
be  duly  weighed  and  considered.  Is  there  any  material  dif- 
ference between  the  filibuster  and  the  buccaneer  ?  Tell  me 
not  of  philanthropy  as  a  plea.  I  say  of  it  as  Roland's  wife 
said  of  liberty :  'Alas !  how  many  crimes  are  committed  in 
thy  name !'  Beside,  if  you  are  pining  for  adventure,  you  will 
not  have  long  to  wait.  Liberty  and  Philanthropy  are  at  work 
and  in  a  broader  field  than  yours.  Fanaticism  will  soon 
bring  on  a  sectional  collision  between  the  States  of  the  Union, 
in  which  every  man  will  have  to  choose  his  side.  When  it 
comes  there  will  be  no  lack  of  blows,  and  may  God  help  the 
right !  Then  give  up  your  present  project,  and  wait.  Go  to 
Austin  and  enter  on  your  profession  there.  "I  will  give  you 
letters  which  will  insure  you  advantageous  business  connec- 
tion there." 

By  these  arguments,  here  given  almost  in  his  very  words, 
and  similar  ones,  he  again  induced  me  to  defer  my  wishes  to 

[126] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  KOBE. 

his  judgment  and  I  have  never  regretted  the  decision.  The 
letters  I  have  now. 

"Permit  me  to  say,  in  conclusion,  that  I  have  never  known 
the  man  who  held  in  such  nice  equipoise  qualities  akin  and 
yet  in  a  measure  antagonistic — the  genial  and  reserved,  the 
gentle  and  the  grand,  the  humane  and  the  historic.  He  would 
have  gone  a  day's  journey  to  reclaim  an  erring  brother,  and 
would  have  turned  out  of  his  path  to  avoid  crushing  a  worm ; 
and  yet  he  would  have  sacrificed  his  life  and  all  he  held 
dear  in  it  rather  than  deviate  one  hair's  breadth  from  the 
strictest  line  of  right  and  duty. 

"There  was  no  cant  in  his  composition,  for  he  was  a  cava- 
lier of  the  straightest  sect ;  but  I  have  never  met  the  man  who 
combined  in  himself  more  of  the  elements  of  a  follower  of 
the  Unerring  Teacher.  In  his  company  the  humblest  felt  at 
ease,  and  yet  a  crowned  head  would  not  have  ventured  upon 
a  freedom  with  him.  In  the  course  of  an  eventful  life  and  ex- 
tensive travel,  I  have  come  in  contact  with  many  of  the  his- 
toric personages  of  the  day ;  and  yet  I  scruple  not  to  say  that 
of  them  all,  but  three,  to  my  thinking,  would  stand  the  test 
of  the  most  rigid  scrutiny.*  Of  these  by  a  singular  coinci- 
dence, the  Colonel  and  lieutenant  colonel  of  a  cavalry  regi- 
ment in  the  United  States  Army,  afterward  respectively  the 
ranking  officers  of  a  hostile  army,  Albert  Sidney  Johnston 
and  Robert  E.  Lee,  were  two ;  the  third  was  Mr.  Calhoun. 

*"  'No  time-serving  or  self-seeking  entered  into  their  cal- 
culations. Self-abnegation  at  the  bidding  of  duty  was  the 
rule  of  their  lives.  Could  our  much  maligned  section  lay  no 
further  claim  to  the  consideration  of  mankind,  the  fact  that 
it  produced  almost  in  the  same  generation,  such  a  triumvirate, 
typical  of  their  people,  is  enough  to  place  it  among  the  fore- 

*  Ex-President  Davis  being  still  in  the  flesh,  prevented  this  number 
being  extended  into  a  quartette. 

[127] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

most  nations  of  the  earth  in  the  realms  of  thought,  honor, 
patriotism,  and  knightly  grace. 

"Colonel  Wharton  J.  Green,  of  North  Carolina,  some  an- 
ecdotes from  whose  pen  have  already  been  inserted  in  this 
memoir,  in  a  letter  to  the  present  writer  says,  in  regard  to 
General  Johnston: 

"  'Portray  him  as  he  was — great,  good,  single-minded,  and 
simple.  He  was  the  devotee  of  duty,  but  disposed  to  soften  its 
asperities  to  others.  His  was  a  character  with  few  counter- 
parts in  ancient  or  modern  story.  It  has  been  said  that  the 
noblest  eulogy  ever  written  consisted  of  a  single  word — 'the 
just.'  All  who  ever  knew  General  Johnston  will  confirm  that 
he  was  as  well  entitled  to  that  epithet  as  the  old  Athenian, 
and,  coupled  with  it,  to  another,  'the  generous.' 

"Talleyrand's  saying,  'jSTo  man  is  a  hero  to  his  valet,'  is 
true  in  the  main;  but  General  Johnston  would  have  been  a 
hero  to  his  very  shadow.  Those  who  knew  him  best  admired 
him  most.  His  peerless,  blameless  life  was  long  enough  for 
glory ;  and  but  one  brief  day,  perhaps  one  hour  only,  too 
short  for  liberty.  One  hour  more  for  him  in  the  saddle,  and 
the  Confederate  States  would  have  taken  their  place  at 
the  council  board  of  nations." 


[128] 


CHAPTER  XII. 

One  of  the  most  marked  and  remarkable  characters  of  that 
time  and  section  was  my  honored  old  friend,  "Bigfoot  Wal- 
lace." The  presumption  is  that  that  was  not  his  Christian  or 
baptismal  cognomen,  if  he  ever  had  one,  but  it  was  the  only 
one  by  which  he  was  known  throughout  western,  if  not  all, 
Texas,  and  universally  respected  wheresoever  known. 

Peculiar  and  sui  generis  he  was,  above  all  men  that  I  have 
known  in  life.  Uncouth  in  garb  and  oft  in  speech,  his  simple 
word  was  more  than  tantamount  to  hosts  of  sworn  witnesses 
in  rebuttal.  Get  drunk  he  would  occasionally,  it  grieves  me 
to  say,  but  drunk  or  sober,  he  could  not  tell  a  lie,  or  act  one 
either.  Essentially  peaceable  by  nature,  there  was  not  a  blus- 
tering bully  in  all  those  parts  who  would  venture  to  encroach 
upon  his  inherent  rights.  Living  ten  or  twenty  miles  from 
other  habitation,  hostile  savages  would  give  his  cabin  twice 
that  space  to  shun  its  lone  occupant,  for  well  they  knew  bv 
hearsay  that  in  it  hung  a  score  or  more  of  their  scalps  as  wit- 
ness of  his  prowess  and  unerring  aim  with  the  finest  make  of 
rifle  then  known.  They  soon  learned  to  regard  him  as  the 
bearer  of  a  charmed  life,  as  the  wiliest  of  their  tribe  laid  down 
theirs  to  compass  it.  He  was  as  foreign  to  fear  as  to  false- 
hood, avarice,  or  duplicity.  He  was  one  of  my  father's  old 
campaigners,  and  ever  held  him  in  special  regard,  which  was 
transmitted  to  the  son  upon  first  acquaintance. 

A  distinguished  legal  friend  of  the  place,  Hon.  John  A. 
Wilcox,  told  me  repeatedly  that  from  extended  correspond- 
ence with  parties  in  Virginia  he  was  absolutely  convinced  that 
"Old  Bigfoot"  had  a  fortune  awaiting  him  in  that  State, 
ranging  from  fifty  to  a  hundred  thousand  dollars,  only  requir- 
ing proof  of  identity  and  a  few  technical  formalities  to  place 
him  in  possession,  and  yet  for  the  life  of  him,  he  could  not 
9  [129] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

induce  the  bull-headed  old  fool  to  go  out  and  take  it.  Intimat- 
ing that  perhaps  I  could  succeed  better,  I  tried  my  powers 
of  persuasion  on  old  "Bigfoot"  but  with  like  result.  Here  is 
the  purport  of  his  reply  :  aYes,  I  know  it  was  there,  waiting 
for  me  to  go  and  take  it,  long  before  Colonel  Wilcox  told 
me  about  it.  Why  don't  I  go  and  get  it  %  Simply  because 
I  don't  want  it.  What  use  would  it  be  except  to  make 
me  miserable  ?  I'm  tolerably  well  satisfied  over  yonder,  be- 
yond the  Medina,  by  myself.  My  rifle  and  traps  furnish  all 
I  need  for  meat,  and  the  peltries  my  other  little  wants,  such 
as  powder,  lead,  coffee,  salt,  and  a  little  dram  when  I  run 
down  here  every  month  or  two  to  see  you  town  fellows.  What 
more  does  a  man  require  to  make  him  happy  ?  And  yet  you 
and  Jack  Wilcox,  both  my  friends,  would  have  me  break 
up  a  life  that  suits  me  and  take  to  one  that  I  hate  and  despise. 
A  big  house,  a  big  drunk,  and  a  big  fool  all  combined,  with 
lots  of  pretended  friends  as  long  as  the  money  held  out. 
Wouldn't  I  be  a  pretty  d — — n  fool  to  make  the  swap  ?"  I 
was  compelled  to  assent  Let  others  regard  him  as  an  unadul- 
terated fool,  to  me  it  seemed  then,  as  it  does  now,  that  he 
had  in  his  mental  make-up  many  of  the  essential  elements  of 
the  true  philosopher — a  true  copy  of  Byron's  Boone,  one  of 
the  gems  of  true  poetry. 

Of  all  men,  saving  Sylla  the  man-slayer, 
Who  passes  for  in  life  and  death  most  lucky, 
Of  the  great  names  in  which  our  faces  stare, 
The  General  Boone,  back-woodsman  of  Kentucky, 
Was  happiest  amongst  mortals  anywhere ; 
For  killing  nothing  but  a  bear  or  buck,  he 
Enjoyed  the  lonely,  vigorous,  harmless  days 
Of  his  old  age  in  wilds  of  deepest  maze. 

Crime  came  not  near  him — she  is  not  the  child 
Of  solitude.     Health  shrank  not  from  him,  for 
Her  home  is  in  the  rarely  trodden  wild, 
Where  if  men  seek  her  not,  and  death  be  more 
Their  choice  than  life,  forgive  them,  as  beguiled 
[130] 


AN  ATJTO  OF  HAX-F  A  CEJrTTTKY  AND  MOEE. 

By  habit  to  what  their  own  hearts  abhor, 
In  cities  caged.     The  present  case  in  point  I 
Cite  is,  that  Boone  lived  hunting  up  to  ninety. 

And  what's  still  stranger,  left  behind  a  name 
For  which  men  vainly  decimate  the  throng, 
Not  only  famous,  but  of  that  good  fame, 
Without  which  glory's  but  a  tavern  song — 
Simple,  serene,  the  antipodes  of  shame, 
Which  hate  nor  envy  e'er  could  tinge  with  wrong  ; 
An  active  hermit,  even  in  age  the  child 
Of  nature,  or  the  man  of  Ross  run  wild. 

And  so  on  through  four  or  five  additional  stanzas.  Such 
was"01dBigfoot!" 

It  was  current  report  about  that  time  that,  single-handed, 
he  once  took  the  trail  of  a  band  of  hostiles  returning  from 
one  of  their  periodical  forays  in  the  white  settlements,  and 
after  following  it  for  days  like  a  sleuth-hound  came  up  with 
and  panicked  their  bivouac  at  the  dead  of  night,  killing  and 
scalping,  the  last  a  point  of  conscience  with  him,  three  of 
their  braves  and  capturing  a  half  grown  buck,  whom  he  tied 
to  himself,  dos  a  dos,  on  horseback,  and  took  home  with 
him,  assigning  as  motive  that  he  needed  a  young  nigger  to 
"tote"  wood  and  water  for  him  in  his  old  age,  but  was  too 
poor  to  buy  one.  On  being  cautioned  as  to  the  risk  he  ran 
in  sleeping  in  the  same  room  with  a  young  rattlesnake,  he 
quietly  replied :  "Yes,  I  know  the  vermins  never  go  to  sleep ; 
but  I  always  do  with  one  eye  open  and  my  "bowie"  for  a  bed- 
fellow." Wonderful  to  tell,  this  implied  claim  to  superiority 
of  race  was  tacitly  admitted  by  the  improvised  "nigger"  be- 
fore he  gave  Marse  Bigfoot  the  slip  and  went  back  to  his  own 
people,  probably  to  exploit  his  educational  progress  in  civili- 
zation. 

The  thought  has  forced  itself  both  then  and  since  that 
this  simple,  confiding  soul,  who,  to  my  honest  belief,  had 
never  done  aught  to  injure  either,  had  himself  in  early  man- 
hood been  victim  to  over-confidence  in  man  or  men,  or  most 

[131] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

likely  to  woman,  and  so  in  sheer  distrust  of  all  had  resolved, 
from  over  sensitive  and  high-wrought  nature,  to  cut  aloof 
from  mankind  and  betake  himself  to  the  wilderness.  Church 
history  leads  to  inference  that  if  so,  he  was  not  the  first  to 
seek  heritage  under  kindred  impulse. 

A  word  by  way  of  explanation  or  apology.  It  has  been  in- 
timated that  when  my  old  friend  came  to  town,  which  was 
usually  every  month  or  two,  he  sometimes  forgot  himself  by 
taking  an  extra  potation  or  two  during  his  brief  sojourn,  but 
he  never  forgot  that  he  was  the  inborn  gentleman  that  every- 
body believed  him  to  be.  But  once  in  the  saddle,  and  his 
face  turned  homewards,  and  after  getting  there,  no  powers 
of  persuasion  could  induce  him  to  touch  the  bottle.  To  all 
such  solicitation,  his  invariable  reply  would  be:  "No,  Big- 
foot's  got  a  scalp  on  his  head,  and  he's  got  to  keep  a  level  head 
to  keep  it  there."  That  argued  that  he  carried  a  well-balanced 
head. 

The  last  I  have  ever  heard  of  this  eccentric,  but  most 
remarkable  man,  was  his  presence  as  an  honored  guest  at  a 
banquet  of  his  old  San  Jacinto  comrades  and  compatriots,  al- 
most in  the  shadow  of  the  Alamo,  I  think  about  fifteen  years 
ago.  He  must  even  then  have  been  hunting  up  to  ninety. 
If,  since  then,  he  has  passed  over  the  river  into  the  happy 
hunting-grounds  beyond,  let  us  trust  that  he  and  his  life-long 
foemen  of  this  side,  the  Comanches  and  Apaches,  left  their 
animosities  behind  them,  and  are  now  smoking  "the  pipe  of 
peace"  together  over  the  river. 

Without  any  intimation  to  bear  it  out,  it  is  my  belief  that 
he  was  a  trusted  scout  of  that  congenial  spirit  and  highest  type 
of  the  natural  soldier  in  all  history — Bedford  Forrest.  It 
would  have  been  a  suitable  culmination  for  loftiest  heroism 
to  have  had  Bigfoot  for  his  ferret  on  the  trail  and  movement 
of  hostile  leaders,  whom  he  utilized  as  stepping-stones  for  the 
attainment  of  his  heroic  ends. 

[1321 


AJST  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

Apropos,  an  anecdote  of  that  phenomenal  leader  of  heroes, 
which  comes  well  authenticated.  In  Wilson  county,  already 
mentioned,  there  lived  in  war-times  a  worthy  old  lady  by  the 
name  of  Whitehead,  who,  gauged  by  the  Napoleonic  standard, 
was  probably  the  greatest  woman  in  the  world.  She  had  nine- 
teen sons  under  the  greatest  of  cavalry  leaders,  and  would 
have  made  the  twentieth  of  the  tribe  by  her  own  voluntary 
enlistment  had  she  not  been  debarred  by  age  and  sex.  On 
being  asked  by  the  parson,  on  her  thought-to-be  death-bed, 
if  she  didn't  want  to  meet  her  Saviour,  she  replied  with 
honest  simplicity :  "Yes,  I  don't  mind  to,  but  I'd  rather  meet 
Old  Forrest."  That  evidenced  the  hold  and  confidence  he 
had  upon  the  people  of  his  State.  It  has  ever  since  been 
one  of  my  regrets  that  our  acquaintance  was  but  casual. 

A  hunting  excursion  on  which  we  were  together,  just  be- 
fore quitting  Texas,  calls  for  a  passing  notice.  Lieutenants 
Chambliss  and  Van  Camp,  old  acquaintances,  who  were  sta- 
tioned at  Camp  Verde,  a  frontier  post  some  hundred  miles 
northwest,  were  in  the  city  for  a  brief  visit  on  official  duty. 
They  insisted  on  my  returning  with  them,  holding  out  as 
inducement  a  big  hunt  and  good  fishing  .  Of  course,  there 
was  no  resisting  such  arguments.  So  one  fine  morning  we 
started  betimes,  the  two  dragoons  in  ambulance  and  I  in  the 
saddle  on  old  Jim,  of  rattlesnake  and  run-away  recall.  We 
were  hardly  on  the  road  before  Chambliss,  who  was  a  superb 
horseman,  began  insisting  on  our  swapping  locomotion.  Of 
course,  the  fear  expressed  that  he  couldn't  ride  Jim  only 
made  him  the  more  pertinacious  for  display  of  his  horseman- 
ship. At  last,  the  wished-for  and  suitable  time  for  gratifying 
the  young  man  arrived.  In  the  dim  vista  ahead  a  long  dark 
moving  line  appeared  in  view,  like  a  wounded  snake  drag- 
ging its  slow  length  along,  and  sympathy  went  out  forthwith 
toward  that  ambitious  cavalryman,  for  well  I  knew  that  it 
was  one  of  Mr.  Secretary  Davis'  camel  trains  returning  to  the 

T133] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

post  with  supplies,  but  Jim  didn't  take  it  in,  and  neither 
did  the  man  in  the  wagon.  Waiting  for  it  to  come  up,  I  told 
Chambliss  that  out  of  pity  he  should  bestride  Jim  for  a 
few  hours.  Easier  said  than  done,  for  that  equine  kept  peer- 
ing up  the  road  as  if  looking  for  a  mighty  python,  all  the 
time  snorting  like  a  porpoise,  and  like  that  would-be  amphib- 
ious fish,  trusting  that  its  name  and  attributes  are  correctly 
catalogued,  making  constant  and  futile  efforts  to  quit  his  nor- 
mal element  by  repeated  plunges  into  the  one  above.  "What's 
the  matter  with  the  fool  ?"  came  the  inquiry.  "He  thinks, 
old  boy,  you  do  not  know  how  to  ride  one  of  his  mettle." 
"Well,  I'll  undeceive  him,"  came  the  reply,  as  he  at  last  got  in 
the  saddle  and  drove  the  spurs  up  to  the  rowel.  "Keep  a 
taut  rein,  Cham,  but  give  him  his  head,"  was  my  parting 
injunction  as  the  noble  animal  darted  off  like  a  Congreve 
rocket. 

Horse  and  rider  had  nearly  all  reached  the  tail  end  of  the 
caravan,  united  as  one,  when  on  the  instant  came  a  halt  which 
came  near  dissevering  their  mutually  repugnant  and  enforced 
connection.  Each  was  covering  himself  with  glory  until  such 
proximity  was  reached,  and  Jim's  organs  of  eye,  ear,  nose, 
brought  him  to  a  full  and  momentous  stop.  Fortunately,  his 
long  mane  saved  his  upper-story  companion  from  a  fall  and 
enabled  the  equine  to  take  in  a  momentary  survey  of  the  sit- 
uation, and  plan  his  sequent  course  of  action.  With  a  loud 
snort  and  a  fresh  accession  of  crazified  panic,  he  darted  off 
at  right  angles  to  the  road,  and  made  such  time  over  that 
prairie  as  Flying  Childers  the  Godolphin,  or  Timoleon,  could 
not  have  matched  over  the  same  course  in  their  palmiest  days. 
Those  uncouth  creatures  with  jingling  bells  and  waddling 
locomotion,  and  their  attendants,  no  less  strange  and  more 
weird  when  singing  one  of  their  monotonous  love-songs  in 
chorus,  were  too  much  for  Jim's  nerves,  and  hence  the  sequel 
preliminary. 

[134] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

In  fact  after  much  reflection  on  the  subject,  I  have  come 
to  the  conclusion  that  that  animal  was  subject  to  fits  of  tem- 
porary emotional  insanity,  as  the  lawyers  call  it,  and  hence 
wasi  in  no  wise  responsible  for  what  he  did  at  such  times. 
Chambliss  was  evidently  of  the  same  opinion,  barring  the 
extenuating  clause,  and  further,  that  this  was  a  very  acute 
and  aggravated  attack,  for  when  Van  and  I  came  up  with 
them  an  hour  or  two  later,  he  had  dismounted  and  was  read- 
ing Jim  a  moral  lecture  on  immoral  depravity,  or  vice  versa, 
savoring  more  of  the  reputed  emphasis  to  which  our  army 
in  Flanders'  was  addicted,  than  of  the  euphonic  modulations 
of  Attica.  His  last  remark  of  expostulation  that  reached  us 
as  we  came  in  ear-shot  to  that  interesting  colloquy  between 
him  and  that  hard-mouthed,  self-willed  brute,,  was,  in  effect, 
if  not  in  words,  as  followeth :  "You  are  the  blankedest  blank 
fool  that  I  ever  saw  in  my  life,"  which  showed  that  he  too 
regarded  Jim  as  non-compos.  In  response  to  protest  against 
his  having  overtaxed  poor  Jim  in  his  mad  ride  over  the 
prairie,  he  replied  with  acerbity:  "Well,  unless  Van  is  fool 
enough  to  try  him,  you'll  ride  him  yourself  from  here  to 
Verde.  I  wouldn't  back  him  again  if  you'd  give  him  to  me 
as  inducement  for  doing  it." 

In  due  time  we  arrived  at  our  destination,  and  were  warmly 
welcomed  by  Major  Innis  Palmer,  commandant,  then  Major 
by  brevet,  and  later  on  a  Major-General  of  "the  blue,"  and 
his  accomplished  wife.  Subsequently  I  rented  his  lovely 
home  for  a  year  or  two  while  in  Congress.  In  hot  haste 
a  big  lump  of  cold  substance  was  unblanketed  from  the  wagon. 
Palmer  had  a  green  vegetable  in  his  garden  and  the  other 
concomitants  in  his  closet.  Surgeon  Smith  was  as  high  au- 
thority on  juleps  as  on  jalaps,  and  for  long  had  filled  the 
learned  professorship  of  intermixture  in  that  quiet,  secluded 
institution.  ]STo  vile  new-fangled  heresies,  such  as  crushed 
mint,  lump  ice,  shortage  of  "poteen,"  found  favor  in  his  eyes 

[135] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

or  place  in  his  brew.  Like  Father  Tom,  of  blessed  memory, 
he  held  with  autocratic  tenacity,  "that  after  the  other  compo- 
nents of  a  hot  punch  were  duly  compounded,  you  add  the 
wather,  and,  may  it  plaze  your  Riverence,  every  drop  of 
superfluous  wather  you  add  spoils  the  punch."  Perhaps  we 
youngsters,  Chambliss  especially,  didn't  relish  that  Olympian 
potation,  see  !N".  P.  Willis  for  origin  of  the  adjective,  and 
North  Carolina  for  its  nativity,  after  our  long,  dry,  hot  ride. 
A  replica,  however,  failed  to  evoke  a  health  to  his  John  Gilpin 
charger  referred  to. 

One  day  as  we  were  all  sitting  on  the  piazza,  one  of  the 
Arabs  came  up  and  announced  with  the  nonchalance  of  a 
canine  obituary:  "Doctor,  me  kill  Yuseff."  The  tour  of  in- 
spection which  we  made  with  the  Doctor  to  the  camel-yards 
showed  that  the  swarthy  Ishmaelite  was  not  yet  "kilt  entirely" 
by  his  numerous  and  well  meant  knife  thrusts.  Whether  he 
lived  to  see  the  sands  of  Syria  again  is  more  than  I  can  say, 
as  we  started  on  our  big  hunt  next  day — big  in  preparation, 
but  little  in  results. 

Besides  the  officers  of  the  post,  the  party  embraced  Major 
Beall,  the  paymaster  of  the  department;  a  man  laconic  of 
speech  he  was,  but  far-famed  for  emphasis  of  expression,  with 
a  liberal  admixture  of  causticity  when  excited,  as  the  younger 
members  of  the  party  soon  found  out.  Two  four-horse  ambu- 
lances supplied  transportation,  with  an  escort  of  a  dozen 
troopers  at  a  reasonable  distance  to  the  rear,  and  Bigfoot  as 
guide  and  provider  of  fresh  meat.  The  first  day  out,  near  the 
ford  of  a  little  creek,  he  rode  in  and  remarked  that  a  big 
fight  was  going  on  some  where  near  between  a  king  snake  and 
a  rattler.  Of  course,  that  had  to  be  investigated  as  none  of 
us  had  ever  seen  the  two  in  conflict.  Although  it  was  fully 
one  hundred  yards  off,  one  of  the  combatants  made  such  a 
racket  with  his  tail  in  the  dry  leaves  that  we  were  easily 
guided  to  the  baltle-field.     It  was  indeed  a  sight  worth  seeing. 

[136] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

The  gentleman  of  the  castanets,  an  immense  fellow,  whom  we 
estimated  later  on  to  be  over  five  feet  long,  was  in  the  death 
grapple  of  his  puny  foeman,  not  over  half  in  length,  and  in 
girth  about  the  size  of  my  digit  finger,  and  seemed  as  satis- 
fied with  the  situation,  coiled  around  the  neck  of  his  big  an- 
tagonist, as  a  modern  mercenary  belle  might  be  supposed  to 
show  when  hustled  about  the  shirt  collar  of  a  spindle-shanked, 
vacuous  million-dollar  dude ;  or,  to  amplify  the  intensity  of 
crushing  devotion,  a  millionaire  title-huntress  dawdling  over 
the  frills  of  a  blase  Cossack  or  Italian  count,  a  Dutch,  French 
or  Spanish  baron,  or  a  Turkish  vizier  with  three  tails  and 
thirty  antecedent  spouses.  Such  attachments  are,  doubtless, 
intense  until  cut  short  after  closer  union  in  the  divorce  court, 
or  by  the  tongue  of  scandal.  But  here  was  an  absolute  em- 
brace for  life,  on  the  part  of  the  king-snake  at  least,  regardless 
of  the  wishes  of  the  would-be  divorce.  Even  now  I  regret 
to  say  that  a  ball  from  my  revolver  involved  them  both  in  a 
common  fate,  after  enjoying  the  performance  over  half  an 
hour.  It  is  my  deliberate  opinion  in  recalling  that  combat, 
that  the  king-snake,  man's  self-constituted  little  champion, 
ought  never  to  suffer  harm  at  his  hands. 

Bigfoot  told  us  that  night  over  our  pipes  that  the  most 
interesting  part  of  such  fights,  one  of  which  he  had  seen,  is  the 
preliminary  preparative.  "All  venomous  reptiles,"  he  ad- 
ded, ''have  an  instinctive  terror  of  the  'king,'  while  he,  regard- 
less of  under-size  and  weight,  like  a  bull-terrier,  the  gamest 
thing  that  walks,  is  all  the  time  on  the  lookout  for  a  big  fellow 
to  knock  the  chip  off  his  shoulder,  or  otherwise  provoke  hos- 
tilities. Well,  one  day  when  after  a  buck,  I  heard  a  rattle 
near  my  big  toe  and  stepped  back  to  shoot  the  'critter,'  when 
a  little  'king'  darted  forward  and  gave  me  to  understand  that 
it  was  his  fight  and  he  didn't  want  any  outside  interference. 
So  I  turned  it  over  to  him,  and  quietly  awaited  results.  I 
have  heard  of  you  soldier  fellows  before  a  battle  trying  to 

[1371 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

get  the  advantage  of  'posish'  over  each  each  other  before  hit- 
ting out,  but  here  was  what  you  call  strategy  of  the  native 
sort,  unlearned  from  books.  It  was  easy  to  see  that  the  big 
one  was  badly  hacked  from  the  start,  as  he  raised  his  head 
about  six  inches  and  kept  his  eyes  on  the  other  no  matter 
where  he'd  go.  It  was  no  less  evident  that  the  'king'  was  play- 
ing to  throw  him  off  his  guard  for  an  instant  in  order  to 
glide  upon  him  at  the  right  moment  and  take  him  in  his 
deadly  embrace  before  the  other  could  strike.  Finally,  after 
making  repeated  circuits  about  him  just  out  of  his  reach,  now 
at  a  dead-march  gait,  and  then  with  lightning  speed  as  if  try- 
ing to  make  him  twist  his  own  neck  off.  In  due  time  the 
opportunity  came,  and  the  'king'  seized  it  and  his  big  enemy 
at  the  same  time.  You  have  seen  the  battle  that  followed 
up  to  the  finish,  or  rather  just  before  the  big  fellow  was 
finished." 

That  evening  our  camp  was  pitched  on  a  little  stream 
where  trout  and  deer  each  had  the  repute  of  normal  habitat, 
but  it  grieveth  me  to  say  that  neither  the  vesperal  or  matuti- 
nal board  gave  evidence  of  either.  Milk  and  fresh  butter  we 
did  have  in  abundance,  and  a  bit  of  quiet  and  perhaps  equiv- 
ocal fun  supplied  by  the  pay  department.  Its  representative 
prognosticated  a  dearth  of  catch  and  kill  and  declined  to  go 
with  us,  remarking  that  Bigfoot  had  told  him  that  a  couple  of 
old  ladies  lived  hard  by,  the  last  on  the  line  of  civilization, 
from  whom  he  could  procure  milk  and  butter ;  but  he  had  for- 
gotten to  add  that  they  had  two  large  ferocious  dogs,  their 
sole  protectors.  As  the  good  Major  approached  the  cabin 
these  bounded  out  at  him,  and  before  they  could  be  called  off 
one  had  bitten  him  through  the  left  hand.  Like  the  true  man 
that  he  was,  he  resisted  the  natural  impulse  to  shoot  his  as- 
sailants out  of  deference  to  importunities  of  the  poor  old 
woman.  He  returned  to  the  camp  laden  down  with  the  lac- 
teal products  that  were  showered  upon  him,  but  likewise  with 

[138] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTUEY  AND  M0EE. 

ill  concealed  anxiety  for  the  consequences.  Somehow,  after 
his  wound  had  been  cauterized  and  dressed,  and  supper  eaten, 
conversation  seemed  to  take  a  hydrophobiac  turn  or  trend, 
much  to  the  disgust  of  the  man  of  Uncle  Sam's  money-bags. 
Each  had  a  gruesome  story  to  tell  of  the  dormant  vitality  of 
the  detestable  microbe,  or  latent  mad-dog  germ,  keeping 
quiescent  for  months  and  years  before  ulterior  development. 
Perhaps  that  paymaster  did  not  anticipate  time  and  go  mad 
off-hand.  It  was  a  thoughtless  cruel  jest,  and  should  not 
have  been  indulged.  Of  course,  though,  his  madness  was  only 
metaphorical.  Heaven  forefend  that  the  last  kind  has  ever 
developed  for  it  has  been  my  bete  noire  through  life,  more 
dreaded  than  upas-dipped  arrow,  or  the  tooth  marks  of  a  rat- 
tler, cobra,  or  tarantula,  a  pitiable  admission  that — for  a  born 
dog-lover. 

In  due  time  we  returned  to  Camp  Verde,  and  I,  a  day  or 
two  later,  on  to  San  Antonio,  where  letters  were  awaiting 
me  urging  a  family  reunion  for  the  summer  at  the  White  Sul- 
phur Springs,  Virginia. 


[139] 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Taking  steamer  at  nearest  point,  Indianola,  if  memory  is 
correct,  two  days  later  we  landed  at  JSTew  Orleans,  and  the 
next  day  started  up  the  river  on  the  famous  old  "Eclipse," 
which  then  eclipsed  every  inland  steamer  afloat. 

It  had  been  virtually  chartered  by  a  gay  and  rich  young 
party  of  Mississippi  planters  with  a  corresponding  number 
of  young  ladies  with  their  chaperons  and  fine  band  of  music, 
likewise  on  their  way  to  the  White  Sulphur.  Chancing  to 
know  two  or  three  of  the  crowd  as  old  University  friends, 
I  was  soon  brought  en  rapport  with  the  entire  party  and  the 
time  passed  in  dancing  and  jollity  all  the  way  to  Memphis, 
where  I  had  to  leave  them,  while  they  kept  on  to  some  point 
farther  up  the  river  before  taking  rail  to  our  mutual  destina- 
tion. In  disembarking  an  unfortunate  mishap  befell  me  in 
full  sight  of  my  late  compagnons  du  voyage.  Taking  a  seat 
in  an  omnibus  already  crowded  to  repletion,  when  it  turned 
around,  it  came  near  spilling  us  all  into  the  Mississippi  river 
after  rolling  over  two  or  three  times.  Perhaps  the  accident 
did  not  afford  merriment  to  the  merry-makers  aboard  when 
they  saw  me  emerging  from  the  buss  all  covered  with  mud. 

Arriving  at  the  "Old  White,"  I  was  considerably  taken 
back  on  discovering  that  my  father  and  family  had  not  put 
in  their  appearance,  especially  as  I  was  on  my  last  ten  dollars. 
I  found  a  letter,  however,  directing  me  to  join  them  at  the 
^orth  Carolina  "White  Sulphur,"  or  famous  old  "Shocco." 

After  the  summer  season  was  over,  my  father  engaged  the 
famous  old  Montmorenci,  belonging  to  a  particular  friend, 
Mrs.  Mary  K.  Williams,  where  the  intervening  cold  seasons 
were  passed  until  my  wedding  day  rolled  around  on  the  4th 
of  May,  1858.  My  bride-to-be  was  the  only  daughter  of  my 
honored  step-mother  by  a  previous  marriage  with  Mr.  John 

[140] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

S.  Ellery,  of  Boston,  as  I  was  the  only  representative  of  my 
side  of  the  house.  It  was  a  home  affair,  and  if  not  a  brilliant 
one,  it  was  certainly  numerously  attended,  for  father,  unbe- 
knowing,  had  given  informal  word  invitation  to  all  our 
friends  and  acquaintances  around  about  us,  and  mother  had 
been  busy  in  the  culinary  department  preparing  roast  turkeys, 
barbecued  pigs,  etc.,  so  that  when  the  eventful  day  rolled 
around,  we  saw  Warren  County  roll  up.  So,  if  it  was  not  a 
brilliant  wedding,  it  was  one  long  to  be  remembered  in  old 
Warren. 

After  the  ceremony  my  wife  and  self  at  once  took  the 
train  for  New  York,  with  her  cousin,  Miss  Addie  Currier, 
accompanying  us.  A  month  later  we  took  a  steamer,  "The 
Africa"  for  an  extended  tour  abroad.  After  doing,  as  the 
modern  phrase  runs,  Great  Britain,  France,  Germany,  Aus- 
tria, and  Italy,  it  was  determined  in  family  conclave  to  take 
in  the  land  of  the  Pharaohs,  and  so  we  took  steamer  at  Naples 
for  Alexandria,  and  on  arrival,  a  Nile  boat  for  the  Nile 
trip,  then  something  to  be  talked  about,  and  the  most  agree- 
able one  that  I  have  ever  passed.  The  old  monuments,  tombs, 
and  other  reminders  of  the  long-forgotten  past,  are  left  to 
other  and  abler  pens. 

The  day  we  started  there  came  a  down-pour  of  rain,  such 
as  I  have  never  seen  before  or  since,  and  the  concentration 
of  the  seven  years  proverbial  drought,  to  which  this  country  is 
subjected  from  the  Hebrew  boy  Joseph  down  to  that  identical 
day,  for  I  was  told  before  starting  that  there  had  not  been 
a  rainfall  in  Cairo  for  seven  years  preceding.  As  our  Nile 
boat  had  been  exposed  during  that  entire  time  to  the  scorch- 
ing rays  of  a  tropical  sun,  it  may  be  supposed  to  have  leaked. 
No !  leak  is  not  the  word.  It  poured  down  as  if  there  had  been 
no  sham  protection  over  our  heads,  and  during  the  entire 
day  we  were  like  a  pack  of  drowned  rats. 

I  shall  not  undertake  to  describe  the  pyramids,  obelisks, 

[141J 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

tombs  and  other  monuments  of  that  wonderful  ancient  land, 
as  they  have  been  better  portrayed  by  tourists  of  a  previous 
age  and  by  guide-books  of  the  present.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that 
all  of  these  were  of  the  cyclopean  order,  and  nothing  puny 
except  the  present.  The  banks  were  lined  with  the  villages, 
composed  of  miserable  mud  hovels  of  the  fellahs,  scarcely 
rising  to  the  dignity  of  dog-kennels  in  more  favored  coun- 
tries, and  all  along  the  shore  could  be  seen  the  poor  creatures 
drawing  the  water  with  swoops  to  irrigate  the  land. 

My  crew  consisted  of  fifteen  half -clad  Arabs,  including  the 
reis  or  captain;  their  gibberish  was  incessant,  and  with  their 
monotonous  songs  utterly  unintelligible.  Let  it  be  here  pre- 
mised, that  before  starting  I  had  observed  on  the  upper 
deck  a  pile  of  some  twenty  or  thirty  bushels  of  coarse  brown 
bread,  and  upon  inquiry  was  told  by  my  dragoman  that  it  was 
for  the  use  of  the  Arab  crew.  Upon  asking  what  they  had  to 
eat  with  it,  the  answer  came:  "Nile  water."  And  do  the  poor 
things  never  get  meat  ?  "Only  when  their  employers  give 
them  an  occasional  sheep."  As  that  animal  could  be  bought 
for  only  thirty  or  forty  cents,  I  directed  him  to  give  them  one 
at  the  next  halting  place,  and  every  other  place  thereafter 
when  we  tied  up  for  the  night.  "Senor,"  came  the  reply, 
if  you  do,  we  will  soon  be  left  without  a  crew,  for  in  a  week 
the  poor  devils  will  eat  themselves  to  death."  Well  let  us  begin 
at  the  next  tie-up. 

On  returning  from  the  village,  with  an  Arab  leading  a  full- 
grown  sheep  with  one  hand  and  carrying  a  large  kettle  in 
the  other,  he  told  the  reis  that  it  was  a  present  to  the  crew. 
He  then  told  me  to  take  out  my  watch,  and  see  how  long 
it  would  take  them  to  eat  the  sheep.  What !  You  do  not  mean 
to  say,  was  my  reply,  that  they  are  going  to  devour  it  at  a 
single  meal  ?  "Si,  senor,  and  if  you  had  not  tasted  meat 
for  half  a  year,  you  would  probably  consume  your  full  share 
at  the  feast."     Upon  the  signal  being  given,  the  animal  was 

[142] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

killed  and  stripped  of  his  fleece  in  a  trice  and  thrown  into  the 
kettle,  and  shortly  after  pulled  out,  and  before  it  was  well 
cooled  off  they  began  tearing  off  the  flesh  in  great  chunks 
by  the  handful  and  devouring  it  like  hungry  dogs.  To  the  best 
of  my  recollection,  the  performance  was  over  within  one  hour 
and  a  half  from  the  time  the  sheep  was  stuck,  and  not  a  vestige 
of  it  remained  except  the  bones.  But  it  was  not  over  yet,  for 
every  one  of  them,  with  their  faces  all  smeared  with  grease, 
had  to  come  up  and  kiss  my  hand  in  token  of  gratitude.  This 
was  but  one  of  a  dozen  of  like  votive  offerings  that  cemented 
our  friendly  relations  before  getting  back  to  Cairo.  A  dollar 
back-sheesh  effectually  sealed  it. 

It  should  have  been  premised,  that  before  separating  seven 
of  the  poor  creatures  petitioned  through  an  interpreter  for  me 
to  buy  them  and  families  as  slaves.  Surprised  at  the  strange 
request,  I  inquired  the  motive  in  preferring  it,  and  this,  in 
substance  was  the  answer:  First,  to  escape  the  army,  of  which 
they  stand  in  mortal  dread ;  second,  to  have  a  protector ;  and 
next,  to  have  something  to  eat.  We  hear  that  you  own  slaves 
in  your  own  country,  and  we  naturally  assume  that  if  you  will 
give  us  meat,  who  are  entire  strangers  to  you,  every  two 
or  three  days,  you  will  do  as  well  or  better  by  us  if  we  be- 
longed to  you.  ISTothing  but  dread  of  the  penalty  attaching 
to  a  breach  of  the  African  slave  traffic  prevented  my  closing 
their  voluntary  contract  for  voluntary  life  servitude  on  the 
spot  at  a  scudo,  a  head.  After  the  war,  I  had  a  correspondence 
with  the  State  War  Department,  through  the  Assistant  Sec- 
retary, Mr.  Fred.  Seward,  on  the  subject,  and  while  he  admit- 
ted that  it  would  have  been  no  infraction  of  the  slave  traffic 
to  have  brought  them  over  as  represented,  still  there  was  no 
telling  how  soon  I  might  have  been  required  to  have  retrans- 
ported  them,  and  so  he  advised  against  running  the  risk.  I 
thought  then,  and  am  sure  now,  that  it  would  have  been  to  our 
mutual  advantage  had  the  trade  been  consummated. 

[143] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

To  show  their  dread  of  the  conscription,  or  forced  service 
in  the  army  about  every  third  young  man  that  I  met  while  in 
the  land  of  the  Pharaohs  was  deficient  of  either  their  right 
eye,  the  dexter  finger  of  the  right  hand,  or  two  or  three  front 
teeth,  each  of  which  barred  the 'use  for  fire-arms  in  the  army, 
and  had  been  inflicted  by  their  own  mothers  to  keep  them 
out.  The  horrible  mutilation  had  reached  such  a  point  that 
Mehemet  Ali  took  a  very  effectual  way  of  preventing  it  in  the 
future  by  organizing  a  corps  of  lancers  who,  he  jokingly  re- 
marked, did  not  require  the  eye  to  take  aim,  the  finger  to  pull 
the  trigger,  or  the  teeth  to  bite  the  cartridge.  It  is  needless 
to  say  that  the  foresight  of  this  illustrious  semi-savage  had 
the  desired  effect. 

In  due  time  we  reached  Karnak,  the  seat  of  ancient  Thebes, 
and  spent  a  week  in  exploring  the  place,  making  our  excur- 
sions on  the  little  donkeys  of  the  country.  The  heat  was  so 
intense  that  although  it  was  only  February,  starts  had  to  be 
made  by  day-break,  and  once  upon  reaching  the  necropolis 
we  were  compelled  to  take  refuge  in  one  of  the  tombs,  Ben- 
zoni's  I  believe,  until  near  sundown  before  starting  back  to 
the  boat.  These  tombs,  by  the  way,  cut  out  of  white  calca- 
reous limstone  in  the  sides  of  the  mountains,  and  some  of  them 
running  back  for  over  a  hundred  yards,  are  one  of  the  great 
attractions  of  the  whilom  hundred-gate  city.  The  grand  hall 
of  the  great  temple  with  its  one  hundred  and  twenty  stupen- 
dous columns,  each  carved  out  of  a  single  piece  of  granite,  is 
another  great  sight,     an  imperishable  monument. 

Giving  the  vocal  statue  of  Memnon  and  its  companion  of 
the  plain  the  go-by,  we  made  preparations  for  the  return  of 
our  trip.  Before  starting  a  young  English  nobleman,  Lord 
Rendlesham,  I  think  the  name,  who  was  traveling  with  his 
tutor  after  leaving  Oxford,  and  with  whom  we  had  got  ac- 
quainted, came  aboard  and  said  that  he  was  going  to  return 
next  day,  and  proposed  that  we  start  at  the  same  hour;  and 

[144] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOKE. 

to  make  the  trip  a  little  more  exciting,  further  proposed  that 
we  lay  a  wager  of  ten  guineas  upon  who  should  first  reach 
a  designated  point  below,  Aziout,  unless  mistaken.  To  which, 
upon  my  assenting,  he  came  on  my  boat  the  next  morning 
and  handed  me  the  amount  lost,  proposing  at  the  same  time 
that  we  double  the  bet  down  to  Benisoef,  I  believe,  the  next 
prominent  point  below,  to  which  I  again  acquiesced.  On 
reaching  there,  I  had  to  wait  an  hour  or  so  for  his  Lordship  to 
come  up.  Again  he  handed  me  the  amount  he  had  lost,  and 
and  asked,  somewhat  in  a  spirit  of  bravado,  "Do  you  dare 
double  the  last  bet,  on  first  arrival  to  some  point  lower  down  V 
naming  it.  Upon  my  consenting  to  do  so,  he  requested  that  we 
delay  the  start  for  a  couple  of  hours,  as  he  wished  to  go  up 
into  the  village  for  a  short  while,  Upon  his  and  the  parson's 
return,  they  had  a  dozen  new  Arabs  at  their  heels.  Seeing 
which,  my  dragoman  advised  me  to  cancel  the  last  wager,  as 
it  was  evident  he  had  a  relay  of  rowers  to  tire  us  out.  Not 
consenting  to  this,  I  went  on  board  his  boat  and  gave  him  to 
understand  that  I  was  cognizant  of  what  was  going  on,  but 
would,  nevertheless,  consent  to  the  last  wager  standing — on 
one  condition,  and  that  was  that  regardless  of  winner  or  loser, 
it  was  to  be  the  last  bet  between  us,  which  he  agreed  to.  Again 
he  consented,  and  again  I  had  to  await  his  coming  up. 

I  should  have  said  that  before  starting  yesterday,  I  went 
to  my  crew  and  gave  them  an  insight  of  the  whole  matter, 
praising  their  fortitude  and  endurance,  and  promising  each 
a  scudo  extra  if  they  should  win  the  race,  and  a  glass  of 
Cognac  each  to  brace  them  up.  To  a  man,  they  responded 
with  alacrity,  only  requesting,  through  the  interpreter,  not 
to  pass  the  grog  until  the  old  reis  went  on  the  upper  deck 
to  say  his  prayers,  thus  proving  that  despite  the  Prophet's 
mandate  against  strong  drink  some  of  his  followers  are  not 
averse  to  disregarding  it. 

I  believe  that  when  my  Anglican  arrived  the  next  morning 
10  [  145  ] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

he  had  to  write  his  name  on  a  slip  of  paper,  to  be  presented 
at  the  bank  of  Cairo,  and  so  the  cost  of  my  excursion  on  the 
Nile  was  virtually  defrayed  by  a  stranger.  I  do  not  commend 
my  example  to  others,  and  especially  to  young  men,  for  I  have 
always  detested  gambling,  and  despised  gamblers,  but,  like 
Harry  Warrington,  I  was  here  betting,  as  it  seemed  to  him 
and  to  me,  for  the  honor  of  the  country. 

Upon  arrival  in  Cairo,  I  went  to  our  Consulate  and  was 
handed  a  large  batch  of  letters  from  home,  including  a  letter 
of  credit  from  the  Messrs.  Baring  in  renewal.  Upon  return  to 
the  hotel,  we  made  inquiry  for  Captain  Marshall,  formerly 
of  Boston,  and  were  told  that  he  was  quite  sick  but  desired 
to  see  me.  Going  to  his  room,  he  remarked  with  the  languor 
of  a  dying  man:  "I  have  been  quite  sick  since  you  left  for 
your  trip  up  the  river,  and  the  doctors  tell  me  that  unless  T 
can  get  out  of  the  country  before  the  simoon  sets  in  a  week 
hence,  my  life  will  be  the  penalty,  but  unfortunately  I  am 
out  of  funds.  Could  you,  without  inconvenience  to  yourself, 
cash  my  check  for  fifty  pounds  ($250)  on  Baring  Bros., 
which  will  be  paid  on  presentation  ?"  As  he  had  previously 
given  me  satisfactory  references  as  to  his  identity,  I  cheerfully 
acceded  to  his  request,  and  furthermore  asked  him  if  he 
would  not  like  to  have  me  sleep  in  his  rooni  on  a  cot,  in  order 
to  attend  to  his  wants  during  the  night.  "No,"  he  replied, 
"no,  I  will  not  put  you  to  that  trouble,  but  if  you  wake  up 
during  the  night  I  would  like  for  you  to  look  in  to  see  whether 
T  am  dead  or  not."    This  I  promised  to  do,  and  did. 

On  arrival  in  Paris,  I  enclosed  his  check  to  the  Barings. 
"No  funds  with  us,  and  if  he  is  the  man  we  take  him  to  be, 
while  he  is  of  a  good  family  he  is,  nevertheless,  one  of  the  most 
unmitigated  and  systematic  swindlers  on  either  continent,  liv- 
ing on  the  credulity  of  his  countrymen."  Such  I  found  him  to 
be  and  here  hold  him  up  to  the  scorn  and  execration  of  the 
.traveling  public  as  a  rogue  void  of  shame  and  of  conscience. 

[146] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  M0EE. 

Shortly  after  arrival  in  Paris  I  had  ordered  a  set  of  expen- 
sive diamonds  for  my  wife,  but  as  the  day  of  departure  of  the 
steamer  drew  near,  not  receiving  a  renewal  of  my  letter  of 
credit,  I  felt  in  an  awkward  dilemma.  The  first  thing  to  do  was 
to  wait  on  the  diamond  merchants  and  state  the  true  condition 
of  the  case,  .adding  that  I  was  expecting  funds  by  that  mail, 
and  asking  if  they  could  not  turn  the  jewels  over  to  me  in  Lon- 
don, offering  to  pay  the  traveling  expenses  of  their  agent  and, 
if  necessary,  the  English  customs  dues.  To  my  surprise  and 
extreme  delight,  they  made  not  the  slightest  objection  to  the 
proposition,  but  promptly  replied  that  the  casket  would  be 
handed  to  me  at  my  address  in  London  three  days  from  that 
time,  and  free  from  customs  duties,  as  was  done. 

Thereupon  I  telegraphed  my  old  friend  Major  Leon  Dyer, 
a  retired  banker  of  large  means,  living  in  Frankfort-on-the- 
Main,  requesting  him  to  meet  me  in  London  the  next  day 
and  let  me  have  a  requisite  amount,  in  case  of  delay  in  remit- 
tance. His  answer  was:  ''Your  telegram  found  me  on  a  sick 
bed,  but  I  will  join  you  in  London  as  requested."  This  he  did 
but  was  put  to  needless  trouble,  as  a  letter  from  the  Barings 
was  awaiting  me  at  my  hotel,  stating  that  they  had  ascertained 
my  identity  and  that  I  could  get  the  amount  requested  by 
calling  at  the  bank.  This  I  mentioned  to  Major  Dyer,  but  he 
remarked  that  he  had  taken  the  needed  securities  from  deposit 
and  that  it  would  be  an  accommodation  if  I  would  take  them 
at  their  market  value,  which  I  did  and  so  reported  at  the 
bank. 

By  the  way,  a  word  about  this  good  friend  and  accomplished 
gentleman.  As  a  boy  he  had  headed  the  mob  which  tore  down 
Reverdy  Johnson's  house  in  Baltimore  a  few  years  previously. 
Being  compelled  to  fly  to  escape  arrest,  he  turned  up  in 
New  Orleans,  and  although  then  a  man  of  large  wealth  he  en- 
listed in  the  army,  in  order  to  avoid  further  trouble  with  the 
authorities,  and  with  his  detachment  went  to  Florida  in  the 

[147] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

Seminole  war  of  that  day,  where  he  quickly  attracted  the 
notice  of  that  gallant  old  soldier,  General  Gaines,  then  in 
command  of  that  department,  who  gave  him  the  highest  non- 
commissioned rank  at  his  disposal.  When  my  father  was 
raising  his  brigade  in  New  Orleans  for  the  Texas  army,  Gen- 
eral Gaines  requested  him  to  give  him  an  appointment  on  his 
staff,  which  he  did,  and  thereby  made  a  fast  friend  of  the 
young  man  to  the  end  of  his  life,  as  the  following  incident  will 
show. 

Computing  the  interest  on  his  advance  and  likewise  travel- 
ing expenses,  with  a  view  to  making  a  draft  at  thirty  days 
to  cover  the  same,  I  handed  it  to  him  for  his  approval.  "What 
is  this  ?"  he  said.  Upon  being  told,  he  tore  it  up,  remarking : 
"I  will  have  you  know,  young  man,  that  your  father's  son 
cannot  pay  me  interest.  He  found  me  an  enlisted  man  in  the 
army  and  gave  me  a  commission,  thus  giving  me  recognition 
among  gentlemen,  and  I  have  loved  him  as  a  father  from  that 
day  to  this." 

He  further  said  that  he  had  brought  along  a  landscape 
gardener  whom  I  had  engaged  on  my  way  through  Frank- 
fort, as  his  body-servant,  as  he  had  to  smuggle  him  out  of 
Germany  because  the  Franco-Italian- Austrian  war  was  then 
going  on  and  all  German  subjects  were  liable  to  immediate 
conscription.  Shipping  him  to  my  commission  merchants 
in  New  York,  I  directed  them  to  express  him  to  me  down  to 
Warrenton.  This  they  did  by  sewing  a  large  placard  on  his 
back.  Being  at  the  White  Sulphur  with  my  family,  on  his 
arrival  my  father  turned  him  over  to  the  'Duke  of  Glouces- 
ter,' an  old  beneficiary  of  mother's  whom  she  had  bought  out 
of  charity  on  the  death  of  his  old  master,  Dr.  Brodies,  met- 
amorphosed from  a  driver  into  a  gardener.  As  illustration 
of  the  old  maxim — two  of  a  trade  never  agree — Gloucester 
was  working  up  in  one  corner  of  the  garden,  and  the  Dutch- 
man in  another  as  far  removed  as  it  was  possible  to  be.  First 

[148] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOKE. 

addressing  Gloucester,  I  asked  him  what  he  thought  of  the 
new  gardener  that  I  sent  down  to  help  him.  Looking  around 
suspiciously  and  putting  his  hand  up  to  his  mouth,  he  re- 
plied dogmatically:  "Marse  Wharton,  he  is  the  damnedest 
fool  that  I  have  ever  seen.  Why,  sir,  he  can't  talk;  I  hol- 
loas at  him  as  loud  as  I  can  bawl,  and  he  don't  understand 
a  word  I  says."  In  extenuation  for  Dutchie's  colloquial  pow- 
ers, be  it  said  that  when  he  and  I  were  signing  a  life  contract 
the  previous  year,  I  voluntarily  increased  his  price  $50  a 
year  on  condition  that  he  would  never  attempt  to  speak  Dutch 
while  on  my  place.  But  came  the  reply  :  "I  can't  talk  any- 
thing else."  "Then  keep  mum  until  you  have  picked  up  a  little 
good  old-fashioned  English."  As  a  consequence,  probably  no 
son  of  the  'Vater  land'  ever  made  better  progress  in  our  ex- 
pressive tongue  than  did  Heinrich.  It  grieved  me  much  at 
the  end  of  the  year  to  have  to  cane  and  dismiss  him,  on  being 
told  that  he  threatened  to  shoot  me  if  I  did  not  mend  my 
ways  to  suit  him.  I  heard  later  on  that  he  had  gotten  to  be 
a  professor  of  modern  languages  in  some  learned  Northern 
college.  As  he  claimed  to  be  a  graduate  of  a  famous  German 
University,  his  dismissal  was  probably  tantamount  to  pro- 
motion. 

It  should  have  been  said  that  before  leaving  Cairo,  we 
took  a  day  to  run  out  to  Suez  to  see  the  spot  where  Moses  and 
his  cohorts  made  their  famous  passage  across  the  Red  Sea. 
In  the  middle  of  the  desert,  and  at  a  one-room  station,  a 
young  man,  apparently  about  twenty,  got  in  the  compartment 
with  us,  and  spoke  to  me  in  orthodox  English.  On  my  ask- 
ing where  he  was  from  and  what  he  was  doing  out  there  all 
by  himself,  he  replied :  "I  am  from  Marengo  County,  Ala- 
bama. When  sixteen  years  of  age  my  father  thrashed  me, 
as  I  thought  without  cause,  and  I  ran  away  from  home ;  went 
down  to  Mobile  and  shipped  before  the  mast.  On  arrival  in 
London  I  found  employment  in  the  telegraph  office,  and  a 

[149] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

little  later  on,  when  it  was  determined  to  send  a  number  of  us 
boys  to  do  service  in  Egypt,  I  was  selected  to  fill  out  the  com- 
plement. Shortly  after,  I  fortunately  attracted  the  notice  of 
the  Khedive,  who  appointed  me  superintendent  of  all  the  tel- 
egraph lines  in  Egypt."  Expressing  doubt  by  a  look  of  in- 
credulity on  my  countenance,  "Indeed,"  said  I,  "and  what 
is  your  salary  ?"  "Five-thousand  dollars  for  the  first  year  with 
a  promise  of  increase  at  the  end  of  that  time,  if  my  work  is 
satisfactory."  On  reaching  Suez,  he  was  met  at  the  train  by 
about  a  score  of  young  fellows  of  his  own  age,  who  treated 
him  with  the  greatest  courtesy  and  deference.  My  doubts 
as  to  the  truth  of  his  story  had  about  vanished.  After  get- 
ting dinner,  he  and  some  of  his  comrades  came  around  to  the 
hotel  to  escort  us  to  the  return  train  to  Cairo,  on  reaching 
which  I  ask  my  landlord  'Who  is  in  charge  of  the  telegraph 
lines  in  this  country  V  "Why,"  said  he,  "a  young  countryman 
of  yours  who  is  but  a  mere  lad."  I  have  frequently  wondered 
what  was  the  future  outcome  of  that  precocious  youngster,  for 
that  he  had  a  future  in  store  I  did  not  doubt. 

The  return  trip  was  far  from  agreeable,  for  although  there 
were  double  panes  of  glass  on  the  windows,  a  heavy  wind- 
storm filled  our  compartment  so  full  of  fine  sand  that  it  was 
almost  impossible  for  us  to  breathe.  Before  reaching  the 
journey's  end,  a  beautiful  gazelle  jumped  up  and  went  bound- 
ing over  the  sandy  waste.  We  were  ensconced  on  board  one 
of  the  O.  &  P.  steamers  bound  for  Marseilles,  after  touching 
at  Malta.  After  reaching  that  place,  our  vessel  was  ordered 
into  quarantine  as  it  was  claimed  it  was  from  an  infected 
port.  While  waiting,  there  was  ample  opportunity  to  admire 
the  beautiful  harbor,  including  the  Chateau  d'lf,  from  which 
State  Prison  Dumas'  hero — Monte  Christo — made  his  in- 
credible escape.  The  thought  of  all  was  that  we  were  in  for 
a  confinement  of  thirty  or  forty  days,  but  we  little  reckoned 

[150] 


AiST  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  A3TD  MORE. 

of  what  was  supposed  to  be  an  idle  boast  on  the  part  of  an 
English  Baronet,  who  was  on  his  way  home  from  his  regiment 
in  India.  He  persistently  said  that  he  would  have  us  admit- 
ted to  "Pratique"  as  soon  as  he  could  communicate  with  the 
Emperor,  for  he  added,  while  the  Emperor  was  in  exile  in 
England,  he  used  to  pass  days  and  weeks  with  me  at  my 
country  home,  and  all  who  know  Louis  ^NTapoleon  will  attest 
that  he  never  forgets  a  friend  or  a  kindness."  Most  of  us 
had  retired  when  there  was  a  great  uproar  on  deck,  and  the 
cry  spread  that  the  Emperor  had  admitted  our  vessel  to 
'Pratique,'  which  meant  that  we  could  go  ashore  whenever  we 
pleased.  There  was  no  more  jest  or  ribald  laugh  at  the  Baro- 
net's expense.     He  had  suddenly  become  a  hero. 

With  the  rising  sun  there  was  hasty  disembarking.  After 
two  days'  stay  in  that  city,  we  turned  face  to  Geneva  where 
a  week  was  passed  in  and  around  Lake  Leman,  and  then  back 
to  Paris,  which  was  in  a  state  of  frenzied  French  excitement, 
as  the  Emperor  was  to  start  the  next  day  to  take  command  of 
the  Allied  Army  in  Italy.  He  passed  just  below  our  window 
on  the  first  floor  with  his  lovely  wife,  the  beautiful  Eugenie, 
by  his  side,  and  the  procession  halted  for  a  minute,  which 
gave  good  opportunity  to  study  his  inscrutable  face  and  char- 
acter. It  was  an  intellectual  physiognomy,  and  almost  pre- 
pared me  to  believe  what  the  Hon.  William  C.  Rives  told  me 
just  after  his  return  from  Paris,  where  he  had  been  serving 
as  the  American  Minister  at  the  Imperial  Court,  that  he  re- 
garded the  then  head  of  France  as  the  brainiest  head  in 
Erance,  if  not  out  of  France,  he  added.  Unfortunate,  he 
doubtless  was,  but  never  a  weakling. 

A  few  days  later  we  saw  Her  Majesty,  good  Queen  Victo- 
ria, going1  in  royal  state  to  open  a  parliament  of  her  great 
country.     Having  previously  had,  unsolicited,  the  blessing  of 


[151] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

Pio  ISTono,  it  may  be  said  that  we  had  seen  the  three  Govern- 
ing Rulers  of  Europe. 

A  few  days  later  we  were  on  board  the  "Persia"  in  the 
Mersey  (a  vessel  of  3,000  tons)  then  accounted  the  largest 
steamer  afloat,  with  one  exception.  How  it  pales  in  the 
shadow  of  the  15,000  tonners  of  this  day.  A  pleasant  company 
and  a  delightful  passage  home  we  had.  Verily,  as  Parson  Jas- 
per so  forcibly  expresses  it,  "the  sun  do  move,"  and  he  might 
have  added- — and  so  do  the  earth. 

On  reaching  JSTew  York  we  proceeded  the  next  day  to  Bos- 
ton, where  the  oldest  child,  Sarah  Wharton,  now  Mrs  Pem- 
broke Jones,  was  born  at  our  country  place  in  Jamaica  Plain 
on  the  19th  of  July,  1859,  whom,  when  she  was  a  month  old, 
we  brought  to  our  North  Carolina  home,  "Esmeralda,"  in 
Warren  County.  Everybody  seemed  glad  to  see  us  back  after 
a  fourteen-months  absence,  and  glad  enough  we  were  to  get 
back.  We  all  had  had  a  surfeit  of  foreign  lands  and  foreign 
customs. 

The  next  two  years  gave  unmistakable  portents  of  the 
/  great  political  storm  which  was  brewing.  While  every  one 
felt  the  gravity  of  the  occasion,  few  cared  to  avert  it  by  truck- 
ling submission  to  dangers  more  to  be  dreaded  than  war.  Still 
our  fields  were  cultivated,  and  the  social  amenities  like- 
wise, as  if  not  realizing  that  the  brink  of  revolution  was  im- 
pending. The  summer  of  1860  was  passed  at  the  White  Sul- 
phur, Virginia,  and  never  was  there  a  larger  or  gayer  crowd 
at  that  far-famed  resort.  It  seems  wondrous  strange,  in  view 
of  subsequent  events,  that  the  South  should  have  been  appar- 
ently so  callous.  A  strange  eventful  period  it  was,  on  the 
eve  of  the  most  momentous  epoch  in  the  world's  history. 

For  the  next  few  months,  the  South  throughout  its  borders 

was   organizing,    arming   and   equipping,    for   the   inevitable 

conflict.  With  scores  of  others  of  Warren's    young    sons  I 

was  enrolled  as  a  high  private  in  the  Warren  Guards,  and 

[152] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

I  am  proud  to  be  able  to  state  that  the  gallant  company  was 
one  of  the  first  three  to  report  at  the  camp  of  organization 
in  Raleigh.  Three  companies  unanimously  expressed  their 
preference  for  me  for  the  Colonelcy  of  the  First  North  Caro- 
lina Regiment,  for  which  I  am,  and  always  will  be,  duly 
proud  and  appreciative.  '  Colonel,  afterwards  General  D. 
H.  Hill,  than  whom  a  braver,  more  skillful  and  tactical  offi- 
cer figured  not  in  the  war  to  follow — a  few  at  the  top  alone, 
perhaps,  excepted — received  the  coveted  honor. 

Resuming  my  place  in  the  ranks,  I  went  with  the  com- 
mand down  to  Norfolk,  then  daily  threatened  by  overwhelm- 
ing odds.  While  drilling  and  preparing  for  the  coming 
clash  at  Camp  'Misery,'  as  the  boys  familiarly  dubbed  it, 
news  reached  me  that  I  had  been  designated  by  General 
Henry  A.  Wise  to  be  a  colonel  in  his  Legion,  as  then  known. 
The  appointment  was  not  only  unsought  but  entirely  unex- 
pected, yet  nevertheless  appreciated,  for  regarding  General 
Wise  as  one  of  the  foremost  political  thinkers  of  the  time 
I  was  simple  enough  to  give  him  the  credit  of  being  a  great 
incipient  soldier.  The  outcome,  like  that  in  many  other 
political  appointments,  proved  the  prognostic  to  be  rather 
illusory. 

But  straighway  getting  my  discharge  from  the  twelfth 
North  Carolina  Regiment,  I  set  to  work  to  raise  one  of  my 
own.  The  last  official  act  of  North  Carolina's  initial  great 
war  Governor,  John  W.  Ellis,  was  to  give  me  an  order  for 
seven  hundred  and  fifty  Enfield  rifles,  the  only  ones  that  re- 
mained in  North  Carolina,  if  not  in  the  Confederate  States, 
and,  of  course,  their  possession  was  much  sought  by  com- 
panies throughout  the  State.  I  soon  had  seventeen  tendered 
me  fi*om  which  to  choose  my  ten,  but  while  organizing  at  the 
new  fair  grounds  in  Richmond,  news  came  that  his  successor, 
Henry  S.   Clark,  had  arbitrarily  taken  my  guns  and  given 

them  to  another.  The  announcement  fell  like  a  thunder  clap, 

[153] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

for  there  is  no  concealing-  the  fact  that  his  action  was  a  death 
blow  to  my  fondest  aspirations.  There  was  no  resisting  the 
impulse  of  going  to  Raleigh  and  telling  him,  face  to  face, 
what  I  thought  of  his  high-handed  act.  This  was  done  in  his 
office,  in  language  more  emphatic  than  diplomatic.  There- 
upon appeal  was  made  to  the  Legislature  for  the  redress  of 
the  grievance.  Not  having  other  guns  to  give  me  to  supply 
the  place  of  the  Enfield's  taken,  that  body  unanimously  voted 
me  $50,000  to  purchase  arms  wherever  they  could  be  found. 
The  finding,  unfortunately,  was  the  chief  difficulty,  for  they 
could  not  be  found. 

Resolved,  however,  not  to  be  kept  out  of  the  unpleasantness 
by  the  want  of  shooting  utensils,  I  at  once  set  to  work  to  sup- 
ply the  deficiency  with  double-barrel  guns.  Fortunately,  glo- 
rious old  John  Letcher,  the  then  war  governor  of  Virginia, 
came  to  the  rescue  and  gave  me  an  order  for  three  hundred 
old-fashioned  flint-lock  muskets,  which  were  quickly  altered 
by  the  Government  into  percussions.  So  that,  if  we  were  not 
armed  and  equipped  after  the  most  approved  fashion,  we, 
nevertheless,  had  guns  that  would  kill,  and  trusted  that  after 
the  first  battle  our  friends,  the  enemy,  would  supply  us  with 
better.  I  am  proud  to  say  that  there  was  no  higgling  or  com- 
plaining on  the  part  of  my  gallant  command  on  the  score  of 
indifferent  equipment,  and  furthermore  that,  after  supplying 
each  man  with  a  warm  overcoat,  over  one-half  of  the  amount 
advanced  me  was  later  on  returned  to  the  State  treasury. 

Before  the  regiment  was  completed,  I  was  ordered  to  Wil- 
mington to  await  the  arrival  of  the  other  three  companies,  hav- 
ing only  seven,  numbering  in  the  aggregate  about  seven  hun- 
dred and  fifty  men.  The  accomplished  gentleman,  General 
Anderson,  was  in  command  at  that  place.  Shortly  after 
arrival  I  received  a  long,  rambling  letter  from  General  Wise, 
telling  me  to-  report  at  once  with  my  command  at  Roanoke 

[154] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOEE. 

Island,  as  he  was  convinced  that  that  would  be  the  next  point 
of  attack,  Hatteras  having  already  fallen.  On  asking  Gener- 
al Anderson  when  I  could  proceed  to  obey  the  order,  he  re- 
plied :  "If  you  attempt  to  do  so  at  all,  I  will  put  you  under 
arrest.  Inasmuch  as  you  came  to  me  by  direct  order  of  the 
Secretary  of  War,  no  less  a  power  has  any  right  to  diminish 
my  force  by  taking  you  away."  I  then  requested  permission 
to  despatch  my  next  in  command,  Major  Mark  Erwin,  to 
Richmond  to  get  the  requisite  permission  to  move  at  once  to 
Roanoke  Island.  His  reply  was :  "Yes,  Major  Erwin  can 
wait  on  the  Secretary  of  "War  in  regard  to  the  matter,  but  he 
will  take  my  protest  against  your  being  moved  away  from 
here,  as  my  force  is  totally  inadequate  as  it  stands."  I  then 
asked  him  if  I  might  not  prefer  a  personal  request  to  the 
War  Office,  to  go  as  directed  by  General  Wise,  to  which  he 
assented. 

On  the  third  day  Major  Erwin  returned  from  Richmond 
with  an  order  from  the  Secretary  to  proceed  at  once  to  the 
designated  point.  Breaking  camp  on  Masonboro  Sound,  where 
we  were  stationed,  we  proceeded  at  daybreak  the  next  morning 
to  Wilmington  to  take  a  special  train  to  Weldon,  which  was 
as  far  as  could  be  supplied.  Arriving  there,  I  was  under  the 
necessity  of  impressing  transportation  to  Norfolk,  where  we 
reported  to  General  Huger  who  assigned  us  quarters,  remark- 
ing that  it  would  probably  be  a  day  or  two  before  we  could 
proceed,  owing  to  the  scarcity  of  transports.  On  the  second 
day  we  did,  the  General  cautioning  me  to  keep  a  sharp  lookout 
on  the  captain  of  the  tug,  as  he  was  suspected  of  being  in 
sympathy  with  the  enemy,  and  might  give  me  the  slip  and 
run  over  to  Fort  Monroe  and  impart  dangerous  information. 
To  keep  him  in  touch  and  my  eye  upon  him,  I  went  on  board 
the  tug  with  Lieutenant  B.  P.  Williamson,  now  of  Raleigh. 
About  midnight  on  the  night  of  the  7th  of  February,  while 

[155] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

a  cold  drizzling  rain  was  in  progress  and  the  waves  run- 
ning high,  he  rushed  into  the  cabin  to  tell  me  that  the  enemy's 
boats  were  approaching,  having  previously  called  a  halt  on  the 
pretext  that  he  had  lost  his  bearings,  was  in  shallow  water, 
and  was  liable  to  run  aground  at  any  minute,  advising  me 
to  anchor  where  we  were  until  day-break,  and  pledging  him- 
self to  land  us  on  the  island  in  three  hours  thereafter.  His 
fright,  real  or  pretended,  called  to  mind  General  Huger's  cau- 
tion to  keep  an  eye  on  him,  and  I  exclaimed:  "Yes,  you 
traitor,  and  you  have  signaled  them!"  As  I  said  so,  he 
jumped  to  the  door  and  made  a  hasty  retreat  around  the 
side.  Grabbing  my  revolver,  I  started  in  hot  pursuit,  re- 
solved to  shoot  him  as  soon  as  within  reach.  He  rushed  into 
the  pilot  house,  and  pulled  the  door  after  him  as  I  grabbed 
the  knob  to  pull  it  open.  I,  fortunately  for  him,  stepped  on  a 
round  stick  of  wood  and  fell  backward  into  Croatan  Sound. 
The  night  was  dark  as  erebus,  the  waves  running  high,  and  to 
make  matters  worse,  I  had  on  a  thick  blanket  overcoat  and  a 
pair  of  heavy  alligator  shoes  into  which  I  had  hastily  pushed 
my  feet.  It  seemed  as  if  there  was  no  escape,  and  no  bottom 
to  the  water.  Rising  to  the  surface  I  dropped  my  revolver 
and  kicked  off  my  shoes  as  I  looked  around  to  catch  a  glimpse 
of  the  little  steamer,  but  not  a  sign  of  it  could  be  seen  as  I 
had  ordered  all  lights  to  be  put  out  on  it  and  the  seven  trans- 
ports in  tow.  Then  came  the  rapidity  of  thought,  of  which 
we  are  told,  in  a  moment  of  extreme  danger.  Reasoning  that 
inasmuch  as  I  went  over  backwards,  the  boat  must  needs 
be  in  the  opposite  direction,  I  struck  out  at  haphazard  to 
try  and  reach  it,  and  was  just  about  exhausted  as  I  did. 
Throwing  up  my  hands,  I  barely  managed  to  get  the  first 
joints  of  my  fingers  over  the  sides,  but  was  utterly  unable 
to  pull  myself  aboard.  Calling  for  help,  the  man  whose  life 
had  been  saved  by  the  mishap,  came  to  the  rescue  and  took 

[156] 


AN   AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTUKY  AND  MORE. 

hold  of  both  my  wrists,  after  inquiring  spasmodically  where 
was  the  revolver.  On  being  told  it  was  at  the  bottom  of  the 
ocean,  he  still  evinced  no  intention  of  pulling  me  aboard.  Con- 
vinced he  was  debating  in  his  own  mind  whether  to  drown  me 
or  not,  I  called  to  Williamson :  "Hurry  there,  as  that  Yankee 
dog  is  about  to  drown  me !"  Of  which  purpose  he  dis- 
claimed the  slightest  idea.  Getting  me  on  deck,  he  exclaimed, 
"There  is  no  cause  for  alarm,  Colonel,  for  they  are  Confed- 
erate boats."  Upon  asking  how  he  knew,  he  replied — "They 
are  burning  wood,  instead  of  coal,"  as  proved  to  be  the  case 
when  some  six  or  -eight  little  gunboats  passed  within  hailing 
distance,  but  showed  no  disposition  to  stop  or  to  heed  my  ap- 
peal for  a  pilot,  when  told  who  I  was  and  my  condition. 

The  thought  has  more  than  once  obtruded  itself  since,  was 
the  mishap  a  providential  interposition  or  otherwise  ?  It 
probably  protracted  the  creature's  worthless  life,  and  saved 
me  a  lifelong  term  of  self-reproach,  but  cost  the  young  gov- 
ernment millions  of  dollars  in  invaluable  stores  and  muni- 
tions when  the  evacuation  of  Norfolk  began,  as  he  then  desert- 
ed on  his  little  boat  and  carried  the  much  coveted  news  to 
the  Fort,  which  necessitated  the  loss  by  fire  or  capture  of  said 
stores.  Still,  it  would  have  brought  misery  home  to  have  shot 
him  under  premature  misapprehension. 

As  I  learned  afterwards,  they  kept  on  to  Elizabeth  and 
burned  their  boats.  After  drawing  off  and  begging  or  buy- 
ing a  pair  of  old  shoes  from  one  of  the  men,  I  was  delighted 
to  see  daylight  appear,  and  immediately  got  under  way,  reach- 
ing the  island  in  the  time  the  fellow  said  we  would.  Throw- 
ing the  horses  overboard  to  swim  to  the  shore,  the  men  jumped 
in  and  waded  out,  when  ammunition  was  at  once  distributed, 
preparatory  to  my  reporting  to  General  Wise,  as  was  sup- 
posed, but  he  was  over  on  the  mainland  at  ISTagshead,  while 
Colonel  Shaw,  of  the  Eighth  was  in  immediate  command. 

On    reaching  his    quarters   he   said   everything   had   been 

[157] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

lost.  Asking  how  many  men  had  been  killed  on  our  side,  he 
gave  a  ridiculously  small  number.  Upon  my  asking  him  if 
he  was  going  to  surrender  the  most  important  point  on  the 
Atlantic  Coast  and  send  in  such  an  insignificant  mortuary 
list,  he  replied:  "What  do  you  advise?"  I  then  told  him  I 
had  seven  hundred  and  fifty  fresh  troops  just  landed,  and 
pledged  myself  to  hold  the  advancing  foe  in  check  if  he  would 
collect  the  scattered  troops  and  come  to  our  assistance,  which 
he  promised  to  do,  and  sent  Major  Webb  as  guide  to  point  out 
the  road  that  they  would  be  likely  to  come  on. 

Before  proceeding  a  half  mile  we  came  in  full  view  of  their 
advanced  regiments,  which  were  driven  back  on  their  main 
support,  with  heavy  loss,  as  we  later  learned,  and  the  Sec- 
ond Battalion  in  that  brief  space  sustained  a  heavier  loss  than 
any  other  regiment  had  in  the  two  days'  fighting.  While 
in  the  line  of  battle  awaiting  their  return,  and  looking  back- 
ward in  expectancy  of  the  promised  succor,  Lieutenant  Col- 
onel, afterwards  Governor,  Daniel  G.  Fowle,  went  by  at  a  fu- 
rious pace,  waving  a  white  rag  and  bawling  back,  "Don't  fire 
any  more,  the  island  is  surrendered !"  Indignant  at  the 
needless  loss  to  which  I  had  been  subjected  under  the  promise 
of  reinforcements,  I  marched  my  command  back  to  headquar- 
ters and  demanded  permission  to  return  to  my  boats  with  a 
view  to  escaping  to  the  mainland.  The  reply  came:  "If  you 
do  so,  it  will  be  at  your  peril,  as  I  have  sent  word  to  General 
Burnside  that  the  island  and  all  on  it  was  surrendered  to  over- 
whelming odds." 

A  few  days  later  with  all  the  other  troops  on  the  island, 
we  were  marched  on  board  the  steamer  "Spalding,"  to  be 
carried,  as  was  supposed,  to  Fort  Warren  in  Boston  Harbor, 
but  General  Burnside,  whom  I  have  ever  found  a  courteous 
gentleman,  -determined  to  keep  us  there  in  the  hope  of  in- 
ducing his  government  to  consent  to  a  release  on  parole  until 


[158] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTUEY  AND  MOEE. 

an  exchange  could  be  effected,  which  was  done  some  week 
or  two  later. 

Just  before  leaving  the  camp  a  laughable  incident  occurred 
at  my  expense.  My  body-servant  Guilford,  who  had  belonged 
to  me  for  years  before,  and  has  been  with  me  ever  since,  be- 
gan blubbering  on  a  high  key.  In  reply  to  the  question  of 
some  of  the  Federal  officers :  "What  are  you  crying  about  ?" 
he  said:  "You  are  taking  Marse  Wharton  off  to  jail  where 
he  will  have  to  take  care  of  himself,  and  the  Lord  knows 
that  he  never  did  know  how  to  take  care  of  himself."  A 
few  days  after  that  he  was  a  party  to  an  exchange,  probably 
the  first  and  last  in  which  two  of  his  race  participated.  Burn- 
side  coming  on  board  one  day,  sent  for  me,  remarking :  "Col- 
onel, your  negro  man  is  bothering  me  to  death  to  let  him  go 
with  you  to  prison,  and  to  get  rid  of  him  I  have  brought 
him  over  with  me  and  turn  him  over  to  you.  I  will  take  it  as 
a  favor  if  you  will  induce  your  War  Secretary  to  give  me  up 
mine,  who  was  captured  at  Bull  Run."  The  arrangement 
was  duly  effected.  I  venture  to  give  another  anecdote  of  this 
faithful  servant  and  devoted  friend,  who  was  afterwards  cap- 
tured with  me  in  the  wounded  train  on  the  retreat  from 
Gettysburg.  After  General  Burnside  had  returned  to  shore, 
Guilford  requested  me  to  move  to  the  rear  of  the  vessel  out  of 
earshot  of  others,  which  was  done.  Coming  up,  he  looked 
around  suspiciously  to  see  that  no  one  was  near  by,  and  then 
began  mysteriously:  "Marse  Wharton,  I  have  a  piece  of  infor- 
mation that  might  be  of  great  service  to  our  folks  if  you  are 
exchanged  before  going  to  prison."  He  then  proceeded  to  tell 
me  that  the  day  before,  on  his  daily  visit  to  the  Command- 
ing General  to  press  his  request  to  be  allowed  to  go  to 
prison  with  me,  the  latter  said  he  couldn't  see  him  then  as  he 
was  busy,  but  to  come  back  later  and  we  would  hear  what  he 
had  to  say.  Then  the  following:  "As  it  was  rather  warm  I 
took  a  seat  on  the  ground,  at  the  back  of  his  headquarters, 

[159] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

and  soon  saw  a  number  of  big  generals  coming  up  and,  as 
I  supposed,  entering.  My  curiosity  was  aroused  to  know 
what  was  going  on,  so,  shutting  my  eyes  as  if  asleep,  I  kept 
my  ears  open  and  on  the  stretch,  for  I  soon  gathered  that  it 
was  a  counsel  of  war,  as  I  believe  they  call  it,  and  were  talk- 
ing about  where  to  strike  us  next.  General  Foster,  as  I  took 
him  to  be,  was  for  moving  on  Norfolk  at  once  and  taking 
it  on  the  land  side,  while  their  ships  should  make  a  pretense 
by  water  from  Old  Point.  All  the  small-fry  generals  thought 
that  a  good  plan,  but  General  Burnside  upset  it,  when  he  up 
and  spoke  and  said:  'Gentlemen,  we  have  got  to  starve  these 
people  into  submission,  and  here's  how  I  think  it  can  be  done. 
Eastern  North  Carolina  is  the  corn-crib  of  the  so-called  Con- 
federacy, and  if  we  hold  the  key,  they  cannot  get  into  it. 
Therefore,  my  advice  is,  let  us  take  Newbern  and  hold  it  as 
the  base  of  operations.'  It  is  needless  to  say  his  counsel  pre- 
vailed." Commending  him  for  his  connected  story,  I  told  him 
that  when  we  were  sent  home  on  parole,  as  was  now  pretty 
well  settled  would  be  the  case,  my  hands  and  tongue  would 
be  tied,  but  that  his  would  not,  and  gave  him  this  command : 
"When  you  get  to  Norfolk,  call  on  our  old  Colonel,  Sol  Wil- 
liams, of  the  Twelfth,  and  repeat  to  him  in  confidence  what 
you  have  told  me,  and  ask  him  to  take  you  to  General  Huger 
and  vouch  for  your  reliability ;  or  if  he  is  not  there,  to  our  old 
Captain,  Ben  Wade,  of  the  Warren  Guards."  This  was  done, 
and  General  Huger  praised  him  highly  for  his  report,  saying 
that  he  would  send  it  at  once  by  special  messenger  to  the  War 
Office.  I  am  unadvised  if  this  was  ever  done,  but  do  know 
that  the  battles  at  Newbern  and  above  were  fought  a  few  days 
later  on.  He  passed  into  my  possession  by  purchase  from  my 
cousin,  General  M.  W.  Ransom,  who  he  has  ever  believed,  and 
will  die  believing,  was  the  biggest  man  that  ever  set  foot 
in  our  State,  "always  excepting  Marse  General  Jackson,  who 
everybody  knows  was  the  best  judge  of  good  horses,  good 

[160] 


AN   AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOKE. 

hounds,  game  cocks  and  game  men,  that  ever  lived,  llarse  Jeff 
Davis,  Marse  Robert  Lee,  and  General  Forrest,  coming  next" 
Such  was  the  report  given  long  afterwards  by  one  of  the 
best  men  that  ever  lived  in  the  world,  Dr.  Frank  Patterson, 
as  the  two  old  night  owls  would  sit  over  the  midnight  camp 
fire  discussing  men,  measures,   and  metaphysics,   when  the 
rest  of  the  camp  would  be  wrapped  in  slumber.     It  is  need- 
less to  say  that  his  pre-eminent  hero  was  not  he  of  the  foot 
cavalry,  but  the  one  of  the  cotton  bales,  both  being  of  kindred 
taste  and  proclivities,  that  is,  he  and  Guilford.     The  cham- 
pion of  the  valley  would  never  be  accused  of  any  or  either  of 
the  enumerated  weaknesses,  always  barring  the  last,  for  he 
ever  held  in  highest  admiration  game  men,  especially  if  they 
were  fleet  of  foot  on  the  approach  of  a  fight.     Therein  'Hick- 
ory' and  'Stonewall'  were  in  such  close  touch  and  unity  of  ac- 
cord, that  they  might  easily  have  been  confounded  as  double 
first  cousins,  owing  to  the  identity  of  family  name  and  the 
significance  of  nickname.      These   and  other  striking  traits 
in  common  were  so  marked  that  I  can't  help  believing  that 
they  must  have  had  a  close  common  grand-father  in  the  'ould 
country. '     Observe,  a  common  nationality  and  a  common  re- 
ligion, hard-shell,  hard  fighting,  imperious,  self-willed  Pres- 
byterians, both  as  brave  as  Caesar,  as  alert  as  the  leopard,  but 
self-restrained  self-counsellors,  each  permeated  by  the  same 
instinctive  love  of  fight  that  possesses  the  bull-dog  or  the 
game-cock,  but  holding  native  instinct  in  subordination   to 
reason,  both  imbued  with  the  same  sublime  love  of  truth, 
respect  for  women  and  love  of  children,  and  utter  detestation 
for  falsehood,  hypocrisy,  or  double-face.     I  tell  you,  gentle- 
men, that  these  two  great  soldiers,  sagacious  citizens,  and  good 
men,  must  have  been  close  akin.     God  shrive  the  sins  of  each, 
and  bless  them  both.  Selah! 

To  recur  to  the  transfer  of  ownership,  let  it  be  said  that 
it  was  the  outcome  of  simple  charity  on  both  sides.     He  had, 
11  [  161  ] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

inadvertently,  fallen  in  love  with  Melissa,  my  wife's  dress- 
ing maid  and  needle  woman,  and  as  the  two  plantations  lay  in 
separate  counties,  it  was  a  more  difficult  feat  than  Leander's 
for  man  and  maid  to  get  a  glimpse  of  each  other  until  the 
G-ordian  knot  was  cut  in  manner  stated,  and  eight  or  ten 
grown  up  and  well-to-do  children  attest  the  honesty  and  sin- 
cerity of  their  devotion  through  near  half  a  century.  By 
such  change  of  proprietary  possession,  a  faithful  servitor  and 
devoted  friend  fell  to  my  lot,  while  my  honored  kinsman 
could  but  feel  well  content  that  he  had  received  as  equivalent 
the  biggest  purchase  money  in  all  probability  ever  paid  for 
'the  brother  in  black'  in  our  State,  if  not  in  any  other. 

Another  little  anecdote  illustrative  of  the  fidelity  of  some 
of  that  race,  and  which  has  its  humorous  as  well  as  pathetic 
side,  and  we  pass  on.  Major  Erwin  had  as  attendant  a  strong 
able-bodied  man  as  black  as  the  ace  of  spades,  who  had  been 
raised  with  him,  and  who  held  him  in  heart  love  and  proof 
against  wrong  or  ill  doing.  Reaching  Xorfolk  in  a  drenching 
rain  on  our  way  to  the  island,  we  found  an  aide  of  the  General 
awaiting  to  pilot  us  to  our  quarters.  The  Major  was  exceed- 
ingly sick,  and  I  told  him  to  remain  on  the  ferry-boat  until 
I  could  send  down  a  conveyance  for  him.  This,  however, 
was  unknown  to  faithful  Jason,  who,  when  he  saw  the  com- 
mand moving  off,  concluded  that  "Marse  Mark"  was  being 
left,  and  wouldn't  be  able  to  take  part  in  the  approaching 
fight.  So,  shouldering  him  bodily,  he  came  trudging  on  with 
his  load  of  love  and  duty  at  the  rear  of  the  column.  After 
the  surrender,  Jason  hit  on  a  novel  expedient  for  replenishing 
his  master's  wardrobe,  as  will  be  seen.  Just  after  reaching 
Elizabeth  City  on  our  return  home,  and  after  the  prelimi- 
naries of  parole  had  been  complied  with,  Jason,  who  by 
some  means,  best  known  to  himself,  had  slipped  through  on 
one  of  the  exchange  transports,  beckoned  the  Major  aside, 
while  unwrapping  a  newspaper  package  which  he  had  car- 

[162] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOEE. 

ried  with  fond  tenacity  under  his  left  arm.  "Marse  Mark," 
he  began,  "see  what  I  have  focht  you,"  as  he  displayed  a 
splendid  broadcloth  overcoat,  fresh  from  the  hands  of  "Snip," 
and  which  had  evidently  seen  very  little  rough  service  up  to 
that  time.  Anticipating  fulsome  commendation  on  his  'cute- 
ness,'  poor  Jason  was  utterly  surprised  and  nonplussed  to  hear 
his  beloved  master  explode  in  a  cyclone  of  oratory  for  which 
he  was  State  wide  famous,  modulating  emphasis,  as  here 
given. 


[163] 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

After  being  duly  paroled  at  Elizabeth  City,  we  took  up  the 
line  of  march]  to  our  respective  homes  as  prisoners  of  war, 
pledged  not  to  take  up  arms  again  until  duly  exchanged,  Nor- 
folk being  the  first  objective  point  to  respective  destinations, 
where  transportation  was  furnished.  There  we  were  com- 
pelled to  remain  in  inglorious  ease  until  called  to  Richmond 
a  short  while  afterwards  to  take  place  in  line  again,  a  cartel 
of  exchange  between  the  two  governments  having  been  agreed 
upon. 

During  those  days  events  of  greatest  moment  were  trans- 
piring. Great  battles  were  being  fought  and  won,  and  great 
men  dying.  Well  do  I  recall  my  father's  coming  into  my 
room  one  day,  and  remarking: 

"My  son,  we  have  won  a  great  and  glorious  victory  in  the 
West,  but  it  has  been  a  dearly  purchased  one  for  us,  for  the 
price  we  paid  for  it  was  the  incomparable  Sidney  Johnston, 
who  fell  in  the  very  zenith  of  decisive  victory." 

Like  Mr.  Davis,  my  father  had  a  due  appreciation  of  that 
illustrious  man,  and  thought  that  his  loss  was  tantamount  to 
twenty-thousand  men.  Apropos,  an  anecdote  which  Mrs. 
Davis  gave  to  me  herself  shortly  before  the  President's 
death : 

"My  husband,"  she  said,  "having  heard  that  General 
Johnston  was  on  his  way  to  Texas  from  California,  had 
grown  most  restive  and  impatient  at  his  non-arrival  in  reach. 
Confined  to  a  sick  bed,  he  had  constantly  exclaimed:  'Why 
don't  he  come,  why  don't  he  come  ?'  Finally,  the  news 
reached  Richmond  that  he  had  arrived,  after  incredible  hard- 
ships in  his  perilous  ride  from  the  Pacific,  in  San  Antonio. 
It  found  my  husband  on  a  sick  bed  and  grown  very  petulant 
by  reason  of  anxiety,  which  was  relieved  on  the  instant  by 

[164] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOKE. 

the  welcome  news  of  his  having  reached  our  purlieus.  For 
the  next  day  or  two  he  was  exceedingly  cross  and,  as  I 
thought,  unreasonably  so,  crying  out  continually:  "Why 
don't  he  come,  why  don't  he  come  ?"  I  was  inclined  to 
think  it  the  outburst  of  delirium,  when  suddenly  springing 
up  in  bed,  he  exclaimed:  'There  he  is!  there  he  is!  Let  him 
in  at  once !  Why  don't  you  go  and  open  the  door  V  Taking 
in  the  drift  of  his  thoughts,  I  rushed  down  stairs  to  the 
front  door,  and  there  stood  General  Johnston.  His  first  ex- 
clamation was  'How  is  he  %  how  is  he  V  And  the  next  instant 
he  was  making  his  way  up  stairs,  two  or  three  steps  at  a 
time.  On  my  reaching  our  room,  there  the  two  stood,  clasped 
in  loving  embrace  in  each  other's  arms." 

Call  it  prescience,  instinct,  or  what  you  will,  it  was  cer- 
tainly wonderful  that  the  almost  imperceptible  footfall  on  the 
front  piazza  had  imparted  to  his  Chief  the  news  of  his  arri- 
val. He  was  at  once  nominated  to  the  chief  command  of  the 
Confederate  Army  and  assigned  to  the  Department  of  the 
West,  whither  he  started  after  due  deliberation  and  in- 
structions from  President  Davis,  Bowling  Green,  I  think, 
being  his  destination. 

It  is  now  known  that  his  force  and  resources  were  totally 
inadequate  to  meet  the  enemy  in  his  front.  Forts  Henry 
and  Donelson  fell  in  quick  succession,  thus  necessitating  our 
falling  back  into  Tennessee.  On  reaching  Nashville  with  a 
remnant  of  his  improvised  force,  he  found  the  whole  country 
in  a  state  of  clamor  against  his  retention  in  command,  every 
one,  from  the  Legislature  down,  being  in  a  state  of  outcry 
against  his  being  kept  in  command. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  affairs  as  he  moved  on  south 
to  place  the  Tennessee  River  between  himself  and  the  ad- 
vancing enemy.  Such  was  the  condition  of  affairs  whilst 
reorganizing  his  force,  when  the  enemy,  under  command  of 

[165] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

General  Grant,  also  crossed  the  river  and  halted  near  the 
bank,  little  dreaming  that  the  fugitive  Confederate  chieftain 
would,  at  the  opportune  moment,  turn  and  give  him  a  crush- 
ing blow,  as  he  did,  but,  unfortunately  for  the  young  gov- 
ernment, as  the  price  of  his  priceless  life. 

It  is  now  a  matter  of  historic  record  that  the  Federal  com- 
mander and  his  cohorts  were  utterly  routed,  demoralized, 
and  in  flight,  seeking  refuge  under  the  banks  of  the  river, 
when  that  unfortunate  event  happened.  The  sequel  followed, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  when  his  successor  called  a  needless 
halt  in  the  rich  camp  of  the  enemy  instead  of  pushing  him 
to  a  final  finish,  as  Sidney  Johnston  would  have  done  had 
his  priceless  life  been  prolonged  for  a  few  brief  hours,  and 
as  Bedford  Forrest  would  have  done  had  the  command  de- 
volved upon  him  as  his  successor. 

Before  morning  of  the  next  day  General  Buell,  with  over- 
whelming reinforcements,  arrived  on  the  opposite  bank,  and 
by  sunrise  had  his  command  transported  over  and  himself 
placed  in  touch  with  the  lately  routed  Federal  commander. 
The  result  was,  as  might  have  been  seen,  the  relinquishment 
of  all  of  the  advantages  gained  the  day  before  and  a  total 
reversal  of  the  situation. 

Such  was  the  most  momentous  and  ominous  event  that 
transpired  in  those  days  of  our  brief,  but  enforced,  inaction. 
I  here  repeat,  as  my  deliberate  conviction,  the  statement  pub- 
lished by  his  illustrious  son,  Colonel  William  Preston  John- 
ston, that  had  he  lived  for  one  brief  day,  aye,  an  hour  only, 
the  Confederate  States  would  have  taken  their  place  at  the 
council  board  of  nations.  Not  to  have  had  the  honor  of  being 
his  successor  would  I,  for  one,  be  willing  to  shoulder  the  res- 
ponsibility of  that  extraordinary  and  needless  outcome 
sequent  upon  the  fall  of  that  great  commander.  As  Presi- 
dent Davis  said  to  the  Committee  of  the  Tennessee  Legisla- 
tes] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE, 

ture,  that  waited  upon  him  to  insist  upon  his  displacement  as 
being  unfit  for  the  command:  "If  Sidney  Johnston  is  not  a 
soldier,  God  help  us;  if  so,  I  am  fully  persuaded  that  we 
haven't  one." 

During  the  interim  alluded  to  was  fought  a  naval  battle 
which  may  be  said  to  have  revolutionized  marine  conflicts 
ever  since — the  famous  fight  between  the  "Merrimac,"  on  the 
Confederate  side,  and  the  "Monitor,"  on  the  Federal.  The 
Confederate  government  took  an  old  hulk  of  one  of  their  war 
vessels,  which  was  burned  on  the  evacuation  of  JSTorfolk  by 
the  enemy,  and  improvised  it  into  a  rough  iron-clad.  Even 
before  completed,  it  steamed  out  in  Hampton  Roads  in  full 
view  of  Fort  Monroe  and  grappled  with  three  or  four  naval 
vessels  of  the  enemy,  destroying  two  of  them — the  "Consti- 
tution" and  the  "Congress,"  and  would  doubtless,  have  in- 
flicted much  greater  damage  had  not  a  strange  looking  craft, 
at  this  particular  juncture,  hoved  in  sight  and  compelled 
a  cessation  of  the  havoc,  compelling  the  other  (the  "Merri- 
mac,") to  haul  off  and  return  to  ISTorfolk. 

It  was,  doubtless,  a  novelty  in  marine  conflict,  that  momen- 
tous struggle  between  these  two  odd-shaped  crafts,  which  has 
left  its  impress  upon  all  subsequent  marine  conflicts  from 
that  time  to  this.  But  for  the  opportune,  or  inopportune,  ar- 
rival of  the  "Monitor,"  fancy  is  left  in  doubt  as  to  what  would 
have  been  the  ultimate  damage  that  would  have  been  in- 
flicted by  the  old  'turtle,'  as  it  was  facetiously  dubbed,  owing 
to  its  unique  and  peculiar  appearance.  A  short  time  later  on, 
it  was  deemed  advisable  to  blow  it  up  owing  to  an  insuffi- 
ciency of  water  to  take  it  up  to  Richmond,  and  thus  another 
of  the  fondest  dreams  of  the  young  government  went  up  in 
smoke. 

On  being  exchanged  and  reporting  with  my  command  in 
Richmond  for  orders,  I  was  told  to  pitch  camp  at  DruryJ$ 

[167] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

Bluff,  a  most  important  defense  point,  owing  to  the  pre- 
cipitous bank  overlooking  the  James  from  the  south  side, 
and  to  report  to  General  Junius  Daniel  who  was  in  command 
at  that  place.  Here  I  was  doomed  to  undergo  another  griev- 
ous disappointment,  as  on  the  reorganization  I  was  defeated 
for  command  and  one  of  my  captains  was  elevated,  for  brief 
space,  to  my  place. 

Returning  home,  I  prepared  at  once  to  return  to  the  ranks, 
resolved  to  do  my  duty  in  some  capacity  in  the  mighty  con- 
flict. Before  doing  so,  a  strange  coincidence  took  place  fo? 
me.  I  was  nominated  for  the  State  Senate,  and,  without 
counting  the  soldier  vote,  which  was  cast  a  day  after  the  ap-* 
pointed  one,  was  defeated  by  one  vote ;  but,  counting  the 
other,  was  elected  by  some  two  or  three  hundred  majority. 
Resolved  to  remain  in  no  civic  position  during  the  struggle, 
I  voluntarily  relinquished  the  election  to  my  competitor,  Dr. 
Drake,  and  proceeded  to  Goldsboro  to  enlist  again  as  a  pri- 
vate soldier. 

General  Daniel,  however,  insisted  upon  my  taking  an  hon- 
orary appointment  on  his  staff,  preliminary  to  providing  for 
me  in  a  more  substantial  manner.  It  should  have  been  said 
that  during  the  same  time  an  election  was  held  in  the  old  reg- 
iment, for  Colonel,  the  Twelfth  North  Carolina,  and  I  was 
placed  in  nomination,  without  my  knowledge,  and  again 
came  within  one  vote  of  an  election,  making  the  third  time  up 
to  then  that  I  had  been  beaten  by  a  single  vote ;  the  other  in- 
stance being,  as  stated,  for  the  Presidency  of  the  Jefferson 
Society  at  the  University  of  Virginia — -a  remarkable  coinci- 
dence, it  be  confessed,  to  have  thus  lost  promotion  on  three 
different  occasions  by  a  single  individual  vote. 

During  those  days  troops  were  moving  in  all  directions, 
full  of  hope  and  enthusiasm,  and  long  before,  the  commonest 
necessaries  of  life  had  run  out,  to  be  supplied  by  that  mother 

[168] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOKE. 

of  invention  termed  necessity.  From  the  Government  down, 
it  was  illustrated  in  full.  In  the  beginning,  everything  had 
to  be  improvised,  from  a  percussion-cap  to  a  constitution, 
powder  works  and  ordnance  factories,  and  those  for  small 
arms  had  to  be  gotten  into  shape  on  the  spur  of  the  moment, 
and  well  the  deficiencies  were  supplied.  Homespun  was  the 
universal  wear  for  our  women,  and  they  wore  it  with  pride 
and  uncomplainingly,  and  never  looked  more  lovely  in  the 
eyes  of  the  men.  Sorghum  was  the  only  substitute  for  sugar ; 
all  sorts  there  were  for  coffee,  with  no  complaining  from  any- 
one. Patriotism  and  enthusiasm  supplied  the  place  of  lux- 
uries. 

It  was  undoubtedly  an  epoch  of  the  grandest  self-sacrifice 
for  what  they  believed  in  that  any  age  or  any  land  ever  knew. 
Glad  I  am  to  have  lived  in  that  era  and  played  my  little 
part,  for  it  was  one  of  glorious  patriotic  self-sacrifice  for 
opinion's  sake.  The  remark  is  applicable  only  to  the  South- 
ern contingent,  for  at  the  ]STorth  never  were  wants  more 
readily  supplied,  and  in  greatest  abundance,  thus  opening  the 
door  to  the  inconceivable  fortunes  and  boundless  luxuries  that 
have  followed  in  that  quarter. 

Shortly  after  reporting,  our  brigade  was  ordered  and  moved 
on  to  Little  Washington,  then  threatened  by  the  enemy,  camp- 
ing just  below  Greenville.  The  next  day  General  Daniel  and 
I  went  down  to  General  D.  II.  Hill's  headquarters. 

Be  it  understood  that  Little  Washington  was  then  in  pos- 
session of  the  Federals  and  running  short  of  provisions  and 
munitions,  and  our  movement  was  to  prevent  these  being 
thrown  in  from  New  Bern.  To  do  this,  we  had  erected  a 
little  fortification  at  a  narrow  point  of  the  river  (known  as 
Fort  Hill)  to  prevent  the  passage  of  their  gunboats  in  rein- 
forcing the  town. 

Generals  Hill,  Daniel,   and  Beverley  Kobertson,   Colonel 

[169] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

Bridges  and  myself,  rode  down  to  see  how  the  garrison  were 
deporting  themselves.  The  enemy's  gunboats,  some  seven  or 
eight  in  number,  were  lying  just  out  of  reach  of  our  little 
popguns,  but  placing  us  in  easy  range  of  theirs,  and  they 
were  shelling  us  at  their  leisure  and  to  their  hearts'  con- 
tent. Up  to  that  time,  however,  none  of  our  men  had  been 
wounded,  but  we  had  not  been  inside  over  ten  minutes  before 
one  of  their  large  shells  exploded  just  to  our  rear  and  a  ten- 
pound  piece  of  it  knocked  me  over. 

After  being  carried  to  a  farmhouse  a  mile  to  the  rear,  the 
other  gentlemen  passed  me  on  the  return,  and  General  Daniel 
promised  to  send  my  old  surgeon  (Dr.  Patterson),  then  his 
brigade  surgeon,  down  to  look  after  me  that  night,  which 
he  did  some  three  hours  later.  The  next  morning  I  was  re- 
moved back  to  headquarters,  where  I  found  an  indefinite  fur- 
lough awaiting  me  from  General  Hill,  he  supposing  that  I 
would  not  be  fit  for  duty  for  a  long  time  to  come.  On  reach- 
ing home  the  next  day,  I  went  into  ordinary  for  three  or 
four  days,  but  fearful  that  the  town  would  fall  during  my 
absence,  started  back  on  crutches,  allowing  just  one  week 
after  having  left  camp,  much  to  the  surprise  of  my  friends. 

In  the  meantime,  General  Foster  had  passed  our  obstruc- 
tive point  with  reinforcements  and  munitions,  thus  rendering 
abortive  the  object  in  view  of  keeping  them  out.  Each  com- 
mand was  then  ordered  to  return  to  their  respective  starting 
points,  Kinston  being  ours.  Nothing  of  interest  occurred 
until  a  combined  movement  was  made  for  the  capture  of 
ISTew  Bern,  where  the  enemy  were  entrenched  in  force.  As 
the  country  surrounding  is  of  a  low,  marshy  condition,  and 
there  had  been  continuous  rains  for  many  days  anterior,  the 
men  were  up  to  their  middle  in  water  most  of  the  time. 

By  misadvertence  on  our  part,  the  Federals  were  able  to 
concentrate  their  gunboats  and  be  prepared  for  the  attack, 
which  was  to  have  been  a  surprise,  and  so,  like  the  King  of 

[170] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOKE. 

France  and  his  ten  thousand  men,  we  had  nothing  to  do  but 
to  march  back  again,  the  difficulty  being  to  find  a  dry  spot 
upon  which  to  lie  down.  General  Hill  was  the  only  one  in 
the  command  who  had  tent  and  camp  equipage  along,  and  he 
kindly  invited  General  Daniel  and  myself  to  share  it  with 
him,  which  was  most  gladly  accepted. 

Shortly  after,  the  brigade  was  ordered  to  move  up  to  the 
Rappahannock  and  report  to  General  Lee.  Daniel,  who  was 
an  old  West  Point  friend,  remarked  to  me  at  dinner : 

"It  must  be  close  on  to  a  hundred  miles  between  here  and 
your  house.  Are  you  willing  to  make  the  journey  for  the 
privilege  of  staying  one  night  at  home,  and  report  day  after 
tomorrow  in  Richmond  ?" 

My  reply  was  an  immediate  command  to  Guilford  to  sad- 
dle the  horses  at  once,  which  he  gladly  did,  as  his  wife,  as 
well  as  mine,  was  back  on  the  plantation.  That  afternoon 
we  made  some  thirty-odd  miles  and  were  kindly  entertained 
by  a  widow  lady  and  her  daughter,  starting  the  next  day  by 
sunrise.  We  reached  home  the  next  day  about  dusk,  much  to 
the  surprise  of  all  the  family,  having  made,  by  close  compu- 
tation, ninety-three  miles  from  the  start.  My  mount  was 
the  finest  animal  that  I  have  ever  seen  under  saddle,  and 
made  his  five  miles  an  hour  throughout  without  breaking  a 
walk,  whilst  Guilford's  was  kept  in  almost  a  continual  trot  in 
order  to  keep  up.  The  next  morning  we  were  again  on  the 
road  for  the  Warrenton  depot  en  route  to  Richmond. 

Rejoining  the  Staff  there,  we  pushed  on  to  Hamilton's 
Crossing,  a  few  miles  short  of  Fredericksburg,  where  the 
command  lay  inactive  until  the  order  came  to  take  up  the 
line  of  march,  for  what  destination  no  one  knew  with  cer- 
tainty, but  some  surmised  that  the  Potomac,  if  not  the  Fed- 
eral Capital,  was  the  point  in  view.  It  being  the  latter  part 
of  June,  and  the  hottest  spell  of  weather  that  I  have  almost 

[171] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

ever  seen,  the  troops  suffered  intensely  on  the  march,  faint- 
ing in  numbers  by  the  roadside. 

On  reaching  Winchester  we  were  advised  that  the  enemy 
were  in  force  at  the  little  village  of  Berryville,  a  few  miles 
farther  on,  and  General  Rhodes,  the  division  commander, 
was  ordered  to  push  on  and  intercept  their  retreat.  This 
was  near  being  accomplished,  but  the  officer  in  command  at 
that  place,  the  notorious  Milroy,  one  of  the  three  generals 
who  were  outlawed  by  President  Davis  for  their  brutal  and 
unsoldierly  conduct  (Butler  and  Turchin  being  the  other 
two ) ,  was  able  to  effect  his  escape.  On  entering  their  camps, 
a  fine  young  E"ew  Foundland  dog  became  my  property  by 
capture  until  both  he  and  I  were  recaptured  on  the  night  of 
July  fourth,  on  the  retreat  from  Gettysburg  in  the  wounded 
and  ordnance  train. 

Crossing  the  Potomac  the  next  day,  we  moved  on  to 
Hagerstown  and  went  into  camp  for  two  or  three  days  to 
enable  the  scattered  commands  to  concentrate  as  directed.  A 
laughable  incident  might  be  recorded  upon  our  entering  the 
town  of  Front  Royal,  the  people  of  which  were  frantic  with 
delight  at  seeing  "the  boys  in  grey"  once  more.  General 
Gaston  Lewis  and  myself  were  riding  near  the  head  of  the 
column  when  we  saw  two  ladies  with  pails  of  buttermilk  at 
the  front  gate,  who  asked  us  to  take  some  of  it.  Every  old 
soldier  knows  that  such  an  invitation  could  not  be  refused, 
and  whilst  partaking  of  their  generous  hospitality  our  brig- 
ade passed  by,  and  some  fellow  in  line  sang  out: 

"Come  out  of  that,  you  know  you  have  got  a  wife  and 
baby  at  home;  and  if  you  don't,  I'll  tell  on  you." 

The  vile  outcry  was  taken  up  and  continued  until  the  last 
man  of  Daniel's  brigade  had  passed,  much  to  my  confusion, 
one  of  the  young  ladies  remarking — 

"I  need  not  ask  which  one  of  you  it  is,  for  your  coun- 
tenance has  fastened  it  on  you"  (pointing  to  me). 

[172] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOKE. 

While  halting  in  Hagerstown  an  old  friend  and  connection 
of  mine,  Judge  Alvey,  gave  me  an  invitation,  to  be  extended 
to  the  rest  of  my  immediate  friends,  to  come  and  take  dinner 
with  him  and  his  family  the  next  day,  Sunday.  He  was 
just  back  from  Fort  Warren,  where  he  had  passed  an  en- 
forced sojourn  owing  to  his  strong  Southern  proclivities,  and 
his  good  wife  was  much  concerned  lest  our  hobnobbing  with 
her  illustrious  husband  would  not  send  him  back  there  as 
soon  as  we  should  leave.  "But,  my  dear  madam,"  was  my 
rejoinder,  "we  have  no  idea  of  taking  a  back  track  across  the 
Potomac ;  we  have  come  to  stay."  And  such  was  the  feeling 
of  the  others.  Alas!  in  some  two  short  weeks  her  appre- 
hensions were  verified,  and  that  superb  army  was  re-fording 
the  river  back  into  Virginia ;  but  it  was  not  permitted  me  to 
be  of  the  number,  as  I  was  unavoidably  detained  and  held  in 
durance  vile  for  nearly  two  years  thereafter. 

Greeneastle  was  our  next  halting  place,  for  a  day  or  two, 
where  it  seemed  that  all  of  the  Pennsylvania  Dutch  for  a 
hundred  miles  around  about  had  come  to  look  glum  at  our 
audacity  in  venturing  so  far  in  their  midst.  Riding  into 
town  with  my  old  friend,  Colonel  Mercer,  we  stopped  at  the 
house  of  one  of  these  and  called  for  a  little  liquid  refresh- 
ment, which,  on  being  produced  in  a  wash  pitcher,  Mercer 
poured  himself  out  a  bumper,  and  was  about  to  toss  it  off 
when  I  cautioned  him  to  hold  up,  remarking  I  had  heard 
that  when  in  the  enemy's  country  and  partaking  of  his  hos- 
pitality it  is  advisable  to  make  your  host  drink  the  first 
toast,  concluding  with  the  invitation:  "My  friend,  kindly 
drink  to  the  health  of  President  Davis,  General  Lee,  and 
the  Confederate  cause!"  The  poor  Dutchie's  countenance 
fell  at  once  as  he  replied :  "I  have  not  drank  the  viskey  for 
twenty  years  or  more !"  Mercer's  suspicions  were  at  once 
aroused  that  he  had  put  a  sweetening  in  it  not  conducive  to 
sanitation.     Taking  out  his  revolver,  he  said:    "If  you  have 

[173] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

not  drank  the  'viskey'  for  one  hundred  years,  you  shall  drink 
that  toast!"  To  which  the  poor  fellow  rejoined:  "Oh,  do 
not  shoot  me ;  I  vill  drink  the  toast" ;  and  after  inviting  the 
Colonel  to  join  him  in  a  stirrup-cup,  gave  us  each  a  bottle  to 
take  back  to  camp.  Mercer  and  I  were,  doubtless,  the  avant 
couriers  in  that  hostile  crowd,  and  felt  no  compunction  at 
the  enforced  hospitality  to  which  our  Pennsylvania  friend 
was  subjected. 

The  next  day  Ewell's  corps  moved  on  to  Carlisle  Bar- 
racks, then  a  Federal  post,  but  which  had  been  evacuated 
upon  news  of  the  approach  of  unwelcome  visitors.  The  next 
day  being  Sunday,  it  was  resolved  that  the  Stars  and  Stripes, 
which  had  been  cut  down  from  the  flagpole,  should  be  re- 
placed by  the  Stars  and  Bars.  The  pole  was  replaced  with 
the  young  flag  floating  at  the  masthead.  It  would  seem 
that  if  there  was  ever  opportunity  to  let  fall  a  flow  of  elo- 
quence, it  was  on  that  auspicious  occasion,  but  there  was  no 
adequate  response  from  any  of  our  distinguished  leaders  to 
calls  made  upon  them,  thus  showing  that  heroism  and  oratory 
do  not  always  go  hand  in  hand. 

During  the  night  courier  after  courier  was  delivering  mes- 
sages in  hot  haste  to  General  Ewell  to  move  back  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Gettysburg,  as  the  enemy  were  concentrating  in  force 
in  that  vicinity.  This  was  done  without  needless  delay,  a 
halt  being  called  for  the  night  at  the  little  village  of  Heidlers- 
burg,  located  some  ten  or  fifteen  miles  from  another  village, 
about  to  be  made  immortal  in  the  conflict  then  to  follow. 

As  illustrative  of  the  futility  of  dreams,  visions,  and  por- 
tents, I  was  aroused  by  a  dream  or  premonition  that  a  mighty 
battle  had  been  fought  and  that  I  was  one  of  the  earliest  vic- 
tims. Shaking  off  the  fancy  as  a  baseless  fabric  of  a  vision, 
I  turned  over  and  went  to  sleep  again,  and  again  it  was 
brought  home  in  renewed  force,  and  so,  I  think,  a  third 
hallucination  followed.     My  eyes  were  strangers  to  sleep  the 

[174] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTUET  AND  MOKE. 

rest  of  that  night,  and  when  the  next  morning  we  were  told 
by  our  Brigadier  that  probably  the  decisive  battle  of  the 
war  would  be  fought  that  day,  the  dreams  of  the  night  before 
were  brought  home  most  forcibly,  intensified  by  each  rever- 
berating gun  as  we  neared  the  field  of  conflict. 

The  brigade  was  drawn  up  in  line  at  a  no  remote  distance 
from  those  of  the  Federals,  who  at  once  began  to  shell  us. 
The  order  was  given  for  the  command  to  lie  down,  and  here 
exploded  perhaps  the  most  destructive  single  shell  fired  dur- 
ing the  war.  While  General  Daniel  and  I  were  holding  our 
horses  some  six  or  eight  paces  in  front  of  the  line,  it  fell 
just  to  our  rear.  My  recollection  was  that  it  killed  and  dis- 
abled eleven  of  my  old  command,  but  Dr.  H.  T.  Bahnson, 
then  perhaps  the  youngest  boy  in  the  battalion,  now  one  of 
the  leading  physicians  of  North  Carolina,  corrected  my  recol- 
lection by  saying  that  thirteen  were  rendered  hors  de  combat. 
After  an  interchange  of  an  artillery  duel  for  a  short  while, 
the  command  was  deployed  preparatory  to  a  charge. 

I  was  ordered  to  go  with  the  right  wing  of  the  command, 
and  when  we  were  about  half-way  to  the  enemy's  line  the 
order  came  for  us  to  lie  down  so  that  our  guns  in  the  rear 
could  play  upon  them;  then  came  the  command  "Up  and 
charge !"  Suddenly  we  were  on  the  brink  of  a  chasm  in 
the  railroad  since  known  as  the  Deep  Cut,  when  the  enemy 
opened  on  us  with  both  field  pieces  and  small  arms,  and 
before  it  could  be  prevented  the  men  were  jumping  down 
into  the  Cut  with  the  view  to  scrambling  up  on  the  other 
side,  which  was  found  to  be  impracticable  owing  to  the  pre- 
cipitous sides  encountered.  To  make  matters  worse,  some 
masked  guns  opened  an  enfilading  fire,  which  was  most  de- 
structive. It  has  been  stated  that  Daniel's  brigade  lost  more 
in  that  death-trap  in  fifteen  minutes  than  was  lost  by  any 
other  brigade  in  the  three  days'  fighting. 

Advising  Colonel  Brabble,  the  senior  officer,  to  face  to  the 

[175] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

left,  clear  the  defile,  fall  a  few  paces  to  the  rear,  reorganize, 
and  then  charge,  it  occurred  to  me  that  then  was  my  oppor- 
tunity to  offset  my  own  loss,  which  was  deemed  inevitable. 
Taking  up  a  musket,  I  managed  with  difficulty  to  crawl  to 
the  top  of  the  embankment,  and  saw  the  enemy  drawn  up  in 
line  about  a  hundred  yards  in  front,  behind  an  old  Virgina 
worm  fence.  They  soon  began  to  advance,  but  with  no 
alacrity  for  the  work.  Seeing  a  field  officer  in  front,  urging 
them  on  whilst  waving  his  hat,  the  thought  occurred  that  his 
loss  might  be  of  considerable  advantage  to  us  in  checking  the 
advance.  He  fell  on  the  instant,  which  occasioned  a  momen- 
tary halt,  and  letting  myself  aloose  at  the  top,  recovered  an 
upright  position  at  the  bottom,  but  in  a  dilapidated  plight. 
A  jutting  root  or  jagged  rock  caught  in  my  breeches'  leg  and 
tore  it  from  the  bottom  to  the  top,  losing  hat  also  in  the  fall. 
On  recovering  an  upright  position,  I  was  knocked  down  again 
almost  immediately  afterwards,  either  by  a  minnie  or  piece 
of  shell,  when  my  old  Adjutant,  Austin  Green,  rushed  up 
and  supported  me  to  the  rear,  advising  the  field  hospital  as 
soon  as  it  could  be  reached.  Reaching  my  horse,  which  had 
been  left  in  the  rear,  I  mounted  and  started  back  for  it,  arriv- 
ing some  twenty  minutes  later. 

Already  the  ground  was  covered  by  the  wounded  and 
mangled,  while  three  of  the  Medical  Staff,  including  Dr. 
Frank  Patterson,  the  brigade  chief  of  that  department,  were 
hard  at  work,  their  coats  off  and  sleeves  rolled  up,  to  stem  the 
torrent  of  death,  having  a  couple  of  impromptu  tables  for 
operating  purposes.  They  were  an  honor  to  the  profession, 
those  three  noble  gentlemen.  For  two  or  three  days  ensuing 
there  was  no  relaxation,  or  let  up,  in  their  gruesome  work, 
if  even  a  slight  snatch  of  sleep.  The  pile  of  amputated  limbs 
were  rapidly  increasing  in  size,  but  still  they  persevered  in 
their  glorious  work. 

At  the  height  of  the  terrific  artillery  duel,  in  which  some 

[176] 


AN  AUTO  OF   HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

three  or  four  hundred  guns  were  belching  forth  destruction 
on  opposing  sides,  Bill,  one  of  the  General's  body-servants, 
who  had  been  sent  back  for  provisions  for  his  master,  came 
up  to  me  and  upon  my  asking  him  if  he  wasn't  scared  down 
there  amongst  all  those  big  guns,  replied :  "No,  sir ;  Mars 
June's  down  there,  and  if  he  can  stand  it  I  reckon  I  can." 

On  the  fourth  day  of  the  hell  carnival  that  was  going  on, 
the  great  Captain,  after  his  terrific  loss  to  gain  possession  of 
Round  Top  hill,  and  running  short  of  ammunition,  deemed 
it  essential  to  order  a  retreat  so  as  to  place  the  Potomac  be- 
tween himself  and  Meade.  Those  who  were  able  to  stand  the 
trip  on  wheels  proceeded  to  do  so,  including  Captain  Bond  of 
the  Staff  and  myself,  our  friends  having  impressed  a  little 
one-horse  team  for  the  occasion.  Bond  had  received  an  ugly 
wound  in  his  body,  while  I  had  one  in  the  back  of  my  head. 

The  weird  procession  started  on  the  back  track,  and  about 
sunrise  on  the  morning  of  the  immortal  fourth  making  a 
train  of  vehicles  some  eleven  miles  in  length,  including 
wounded  ordnance  as  well  as  men.  Towards  nightfall,  on  en- 
tering a  defile  in  the  hills,  desultory  firing  in  the  front  broke 
on  the  ear,  growing  more  frequent  upon  every  step  of  the  ad- 
vance. It  was  soon  learned  that  Kilpatrick  had  been  de- 
tached with  his  division  to  intercept  the  retreat  of  the  train, 
for  failing  to  do  which  he  should  have  been  court-martialed 
for  utter  incompetency  for  command,  as  that  long  train 
had  but  three  squadrons  of  cavalry  for  guard  to  oppose  his 
thousands.  From  time  to  time  a  horse  or  mule  would  be 
knocked  down  from  the  opposite  sides  of  the  road,  thus  occa- 
sioning delay  by  a  halt  to  detach  him  from  the  harness  and 
drag  him  to  one  side. 

Things  were  in  this  condition  when  the  defile  was  cleared, 

and  the  little  mounted  guard  left  the  rear  and  went  forward  in 

hot  haste.    It  was  a  bright  moonlight  night,  about  ten  o'clock, 

when  it  occurred,  and  a  heavy  ordnance  wagon  loaded  with 

12  [177] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

damaged  gnus,  in  attempting  to  pass  our  little  wagon  took  off 
a  wheel  and  dropped  us  in  the  middle  of  the  road.  On  the 
instant,  a  score  of  blue-coated  cavalry  were  upon  us  with 
their  revolvers  leveled  almost  in  touch.  Then  it  was  that 
the  utility  of  gab  was  made  manifest  for  once,  for  Guilford 
spoke  with  a  fluency  of  tongue  rarely,  if  ever,  surpassed  by 
any  of  his  race :  "Don't  shoot,  gentlemen,  for  God's  sake,  don't 
shoot.     We  surrender.     We  are  prisoners;"  and  so  we  were. 

Being  then  ordered  to  get  up  in  the  old  gun-wagon,  which 
was  not  the  easiest  ambulance  conceivable,  the  twenty  or 
thirty  vehicles  which  had  been  captured  by  the  doughty  Ma- 
jor-General, were  ordered  to  move  forward,  but  soon  made  a 
detour,  going  to  the  rear,  as  the  rumor  ran  that  Jeb  Stuart, 
with  his  entire  command,  was  waiting  for  the  other  to  come 
np.  After  moving  at  a  rapid  gait  the  rest  of  the  night,  about 
sunrise  the  next  morning  we  passed  the  identical  spot  where 
the  mishap  befell  us  the  night  before.  This  was  impressed 
upon  the  mind  by  seeing  my  Berryville  pup  sitting  down  in 
the  broken  down  wagon  and  to  keep  guard  over  it. 

On  stopping  for  dinner,  an  old  friend,  Major  C.  C.  Black- 
nail,  came  up  and  asked  how  I  was  off  for  transportation,  and 
upon  being  told,  he  remarked  :  "I  am  pretty  much  in  the 
same  plight,  and  don't  propose  to  stand  it  any  longer."  This 
was  said  with  some  difficulty  of  articulation  as  he  had  had  a 
pretty  rough  operation  of  dentistry  two  days  before,  a 
musket-ball  entering  one  side  of  his  jaw,  taking  out  a  half- 
dozen  of  his  teeth,  and  coming  out  on  the  other.  Continuing, 
he  remarked :  "I  see  a  very  neat  little  turnout  under  those 
trees  there.  Let's  go  and  take  possession ;"  which  was  done. 
Soon  an  aide-de-camp  rode  up  and  demanded  to  know  what 
we  were  doing  in  General  Custer's  carriage.  The  reply  came 
— '"We  are  wounded  prisoners,  and  demand  the  right  of  trans- 
portation." He  went  back  to  his  commander  and  reported, 
and  soon  returned  to  us  with  the  gratifying  message:  "The 

[178] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

General  says  you  may  ride  in  it  the  rest  of  to-day,  but  he  will 
be  damned  if  you  haven't  got  to  look  out  for  other  accommo- 
dation to-morrow."  His  decision  proved  that  he  was  a  gen- 
tleman, as  little  Powder  Horn  showed  later  on  that  he  was  a 
hero,  falling  into  a  trap  of  hostile  savages,  and  losing  his  own 
life  and  that  of  every  man  in  his  command. 

Shortly  after  starting  on  the  evening  march  and  reaching 
the  top  of  a  high  hill,  a  courier  came  dashing  in  in  hot  haste 
and  reported  that  Stuart  was  near  by  and  then  advancing.  The 
head  of  the  column  was  at  once  turned  and  we  went  down  that 
hill  faster  than  we  came  up,  reaching  the  village  below 
(Smithfield,  I  think  the  name).  Everything  was  in  a  state 
of  confusion.     Blacknall  remarked  to  me  in  an  under-tone: 

"Now's  our  opportunity.  These  fellows  are  thoroughly 
panicked,  and  if  old  Jeb  would  only  drop  a  few  shells  over 
here,  they  would  take  to  their  heels  in  hot  haste.  JSTow,  let's 
go  out  and  lie  down  on  the  sidewalk  there  and  groan  as  hard 
as  we  can." 

We  did,  and  simulated  broken  bones  as  well  as  could  be. 
The  Dutch  ladies  came  around,  but  evinced  no  sympathy 
for  our  woeful  condition.  One  of  them  remarked :  "Served 
them  right.     I  wish  it  had  taken  off  their  heads  instead." 

Just  then  the  order  came  to  continue  the  march,  but  our 
vehicle  having  disappeared  in  the  confusion  we  continued 
to  groan  and  wait  for  Stuart's  shells.  The  last  wagons  were 
disappearing  on  the  retreat  when  a  Federal  surgeon  came  up 
and  asked  us  what  we  were  doing  there.  My  reply  was  that 
we  were  wounded  men  and  if  he  expected  us  to  keep  up  with 
the  procession  he  must  send  a  vehicle  back  to  take  us  up. 
This  was  done,  the  occupants  of  one  of  them  being  hustled 
out  in  a  hurry  to  make  room  for  the  wounded  prisoners. 

The  march  was  continued  in  double-quick  time  until  about 
ten  o'clock  at  night,  and  a  halt  was  called,  and  we  went  into 
camp.     The  next  day  the  wounded  were  left  at  the  hospital 

[179] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

in  Frederick,  and  were  well  cared  for.  A  dear  little  Sister 
of  Charity  took  me  in  hand  and  dressed  my  wound  most  care- 
fully. When  breakfast  was  brought  in  the  next  morning  and 
I  had  partaken  of  mine,  I  remarked  to  the  hospital  steward: 
"I  wish  you  would  give  my  boy  something  to  eat."  He  in- 
stantly replied:  "I  see  no  boy  about  here."  "Well,  sir,  if 
you  prefer  the  expression,  my  man."  "Why  didn't  you  let 
him  eat  with  you?"  was  the  saucy  reply;  and  mine  was: 
'"Guilford,  tell  this  fellow  why  you  didn't  eat  breakfast  with 
me."  And  his  answer  was:  "I  would  as  soon  have  thought 
of  sticking  my  head  in  the  fire  as  to  sit  down  to  a  table  with 
Mars  Wharton."  "Mars,"  he  said,  "there  are  no  masters 
around  here,  nor  men  either."  To  which  I  rejoined:  "Hark 
ye,  sir,  I  have  had  enough  of  your  insolence.     I  know  your 

master,   Colonel  ,  who  was  an  old  friend  of  mine, 

and  if  there  is  any  more  of  it,  you  will  be  reported  to  him 
and  reduced  to  the  ranks  again."  The  threat  had  the  desired 
effect  on  the  creature,  and  he  quieted  down  after  bringing 
Guilford  his  breakfast. 

The  next  day  we  were  moved  down  to  Fort  McHenry,  near 
Baltimore,  a  change  for  the  worse,  and  from  there  to  Fort 
Delaware,  below  Philadelphia,  the  next  day.  The  officer  in 
command  there  was  one  General  Schoepff,  as  it  leaked  out — 
lately  a  waiter  in  the  dining-room  of  Willard's  hotel,  and  a 
more  pretentious,  overweening  upstart  I  have  never  seen. 
The  Field  and  Staff  were  quartered  inside  of  the  Fort,  while 
the  other  prisoners  had  to'  rough  it  on  the  outside  as  being 
more  accessible  to  the  General's  emissaries  who  were  trying 
to  induce  them  to  take  the  oath.  In  going  out  for  an  after- 
noon swim,  Colonel  Baxter  Smith  and  Major  Jack  Thomp- 
son got  an  opportunity  to  speak  to  a  squad  of  our  men  and 
urged  them,  under  no  circumstances,  to  take  the  oath  as  we 
would  probably  be  exchanged.  The  circumstance  was  duly 
reported  to  the  doughty  Dutchman  in  command,  who  had 

[180] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOKE. 

them  both  marched  off  to  the  dark  prison,  where  they  were 
confined  and  fed  on  bread  and  water  for  a  day  or  two  there- 
after. 

On  the  fact  being  reported  to  Major  Burton,  an  officer  of 
the  old  army  and  second  in  command  at  this  place,  he  waited 
on  General  Schoepff  and  denounced  his  conduct  as  cruel,  un- 
soldierly,  and  unjustified,  threatening  that  if  the  two  gentle- 
men were  not  immediately  sent  back  to  quarters,  he  would 
throw  up  his  commission  and  report  the  case  in  person  at  the 
War  Office  in  Washington.  The  worthy  Major's  threat  had 
the  desired  effect  and  our  two  friends  were  ushered  back  into 
their  old  quarters,  not  in  most  amiable  mood  as  might  be 
imagined. 

Major  Thompson,  who  was  of  a  fiery  nature,  took  his  seat 
on  the  side  of  his  bunk,  and  remained  silent  for  some  time, 
when  he  suddenly  burst  forth  with:  "When  we  get  back  to 
Richmond,  I  will  wait  on  President  Davis  and  tender  one- 
half  of  all  that  I  am  worth  for  the  privilege  of  keeping  Castle 
Thunder  for  one  week."  To  which  a  little  chaplain  replied: 
"Major,  if  you  got  it,  you  would  treat  the  poor  fellows  better 
than  you  think  you  would."  Jack  rejoined,  in  high  dudgeon: 
"If  you  think  so,  parson,  you  don't  know  what  a  damned 
bad  heart  I  have  got,"  which  caused  the  whole  room  to  ex- 
plode with  laughter. 

Another  laughable  little  incident  occurred  when  Schoepff 
came  around  to  tell  us  that  we  were  to  be  transferred  from 
his  custody  to  another's  elsewhere,  but  said  he  was  not  at 
liberty  to  divulge  the  place,  adding:  "You  will  be  well  grati- 
fied with  the  change,  and  all  I  ask  is  that  you  give  your  pa- 
roles not  to  attempt  to  escape  whilst  on  the  road."  Some  of 
us  protested  against  doing  so  as  it  was  a  novel  proceeding  to 
put  prisoners,  under  guard,  on  the  word  not  to  escape  if  op- 
portunity is  offered.  His  rejoinder  came:  "Those  who  re- 
fuse to  do  so  will  be  placed  in  condition  where  escape  will  be 

[1811 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

impossible,  for  I  will  have  handcuffs  on  all  who  do."  Captain 
Surrat,  of  a  Mississippi  regiment,  was  in  a  room  with  us, 
hatless,  coatless,  and  barefooted.  The  General,  thinking  he 
had  gotten  inside  surreptitiously  and  that  he  was  a  private, 
who  should  have  been  on  the  outside,  asked  him  insolently: 
"What  are  you  doing  in  here  ?"  and  the  Captain  replied : 

"I  joined  the  Tishimingo  Invincibles  to  fight  for  the  lib- 
erties of  my  country,  and  they  made  me  Commissary  of  the 
regiment.  On  the  march  one  day  I  was  sent  off  with  a  squad 
in  search  of  forage,  and  as  the  weather  was  mighty  hot  I 
took  off  my  coat  and  shoes,  and  was  loading  my  wagons  with 
com  at  a  crib  when  a  company  of  your  calvary  dashed  up  and 
seized  us  all.  As  we  were  going  along,  and  I  was  mounted 
behind  one  of  your  men,  my  hat  fell  off,  and  I  told  the  gen- 
tleman in  front  to  please  let  me  get  down  and  pick  it  up,  but 
he  refused  to  do  it,  saying,  'If  you  get  off  this  horse  I  will 
blow  your  rebel  brains  out,'  and  I  didn't  do  it.  I  was 
brought  here  with  other  prisoners,  and  turned  over  to  you, 
and  that's  what  I'm  doing  in  here." 

The  impression  was  that  the  Tishimingo  Invincibles  got 
the  best  of  that  fight. 

In  due  time  we  reached  Johnson's  Island,  in  Lake  Erie, 
a  prison  for  officers,  where  some  two  thousand  were  already 
confined  and  the  number  continually  increasing.  On  the 
whole,  it  was  a  decided  improvement  over  the  last  two  prisons, 
as  it  was  more  commodious  and  roomy.  There  were  eleven 
or  twelve  two-story  blocks  in  two  parallel  rows,  extending 
the  length  of  the  prison  yard,  the  two  upper  ones  being  cut  up 
into  small  rooms  for  the  Field  Staff,  into  one  of  which  I  was 
fortunate  enough  to  gain  admittance.  These  rooms  were 
about  fifteen  feet  square  for  the  accommodation  of  eight  pris- 
oners each,  three  tiers  of  bunks  being  allotted  for  sleeping 
purpose.  Here  the  next  twenty-two  months  of  our  unevent- 
ful lives  were  passed  to  little  purpose.      The  prison  guard 

consisted  of  a  regiment  of  'home  guards,'  who  had  enlisted 

[182] 


AN   AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOKE. 

for  that  special  duty  with  the  understanding  that  they  were 
not  to>  be  sent  to  the  front.  As  might  be  expected,  they 
were  not  as  considerate  for  our  comfort  as  old  soldiers  would 
have  been,  as  the  following  anecdote  will  illustrate: 

After  a  six-months  sojourn  under  their  supervision,  a 
badly  decimated  brigade  under  General  Shaler,  who  had  lost 
aii  arm,  was  sent  on  from  Virginia  to  relieve  Major  Pearson 
in  command.  The  improvement  in  our  condition  and  treat- 
ment became  obvious  from  the  very  first.  One  day  an  alterca- 
tion took  place  between  a  member  of  each  command,  the 
home  guard  fellow  remarking  to  the  old  soldier :  "You  fellows 
treat  these  rebels  with  as  much  politeness  as  if  they  were 
some  of  our  folks ;"  to  which  Shaler's  man  replied :  "And 
you  fellows,  who  have  never  smelt  powder,  treat  them  as  if 
they  were  dogs.  If  you  had  helped  to  catch  them  as  we  have, 
you  would  have  more  respect  for  them,  for  we  know  what 
they  are." 

There  was  no  more  needless  shooting  of  prisoners  after 
their  coming,  as  there  had  been  under  the  redoubtable  'stay- 
at-homes',  who  enjoyed,  of  all  things,  some  slight  excuse  for 
making  a  target  of  some  of  us.  There  was  one  young  rascal 
especially  who  took  a  special  delight  in  shooting  a  rebel.  The 
change  was  so  marked  in  our  treatment  under  the  two  com- 
mands that  there  soon  came  to  be  a  better  entente  cordiale 
between  us  and  Shaler's  boys  than  there  was  between  us  and 
Pearson's.  For  one,  and  I  think  for  all,  we  felt  grateful  to 
these  old  war  veterans  for  their  marked  courtesy  and  civility. 

Eight  of  our  number  resolved  to  attempt  an  escape,  the 
plan  being  to  dig  a  hole  or  well  some  three  feet  deep  through 
the  dining-room  floor  of  Block  No.  1,  and  then  to  strike  off 
at  right  angles  until  past  the  fence  on  which  a  guard  was  sta- 
tioned, and  then  come  up  on  the  outside,  all  precautions 
being  taken  to  conceal  their  work.     In  due  time  the  tunnel 

[183] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

was  finished,  and  it  was  decided  by  lot  which  of  the  work- 
men should  go  first,  and  in  rotation.  There  had  been  heavy 
rains  for  a  day  or  two  when  the  eventful  night  came,  and 
the  cavity  under  ground  was]  almost  half  filled  with  water. 
Two  had  gotten  through  when  it  came  to  the  lot  of  an  Arkan- 
sas Bayard  to  take  his  turn.  He  was  Captain  Cole,  a  large 
and  powerful  man,  and  his  frame  was  too  huge  for  the  little 
hole.  On  emerging  his  head  and  shoulders  from  the  outside 
aperture,  he  found  it  was  impossible  to  pull  himself  through. 
Calling,  in  subdued  tone,  to  the  man  next  behind,  his  con- 
dition, and  telling  him  to  go  back  and  warn  the  others,  Cole 
remained  there  in  a  cold  drenching  rain  until  after  reveille, 
the  next  morning,  when  he  called  for  assistance  and  had 
himself  drug  out  more  dead  than  alive.  '  He  was  taken  to 
General  Shaler's  headquarters,  and  the  facts  reported.  The 
General  asked  him:  "When  you  found  that  you  were  stuck 
in  a  hole,  Captain,  why  didn't  you  call  for  relief  sooner?" 
To  which  came  the  noble  reply :  "Because  it  would  have  been 
dishonorable ;  two  of  my  comrades  were  already  through,  and 
if  I  had  sounded  the  alarm,  they  would  have  been  recap- 
tured." Shaler's  reply  was:  "Captain  Cole,  you  are  a  hero 
and  a  noble  fellow,  and  I  guess  the  best  thing  you  can  do  is 
to  take  a  stiff  drink  of  whiskey  in  the  plight  you  are  in,  and 
to  have  yourself  rubbed  down  with  the  same;"  which  was 
done  by  the  General's  orderly,  Shaler  giving  him  a  bottle  to 
take  back  to  the  prison-pen  for  his  own  exclusive  use.  One  of 
the  .young  officers  of  the  Home  Guards  remarked,  in  sur- 
prise, to  one  of  the  scarred  veterans :  "It's  well  for  that  fel- 
low that  you  all  came  before  he  fell  into  the  hands  of  Gen- 
eral Shaler,  for  Major  Pearson  would  have  had  him  in  the 
dark  prison  and  fed  on  bread  and  water,  if  he  had  been  in 
command."     The  reply  came  "Your  whole  command  could 

[184] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

not  turn  out  one  such  man  as  that  noble  fellow,  who  has  just 
been  sent  back  into  the  prison  yard." 

One  of  Shaler's  superb  works  of  charity  was  to  permit  de- 
tails from  each  mess  to  go  down  to  the  banks  of  the  lake  and 
get  buckets  of  fresh  water  for  the  use  of  the  others.  Up  to 
that  time,  our  wants  in  that  regard  had  to  be  supplied  from 
shallow  wells  or,  more  properly,  seip-holes,  not  over  six  or 
eight  feet  deep  and,  of  course,  only  surface  drainage.  A 
pretty  fat  graveyard,  was  left  behind  when  that  island  was 
vacated,  but  had  it  not  been  for  that  thoughtful  kindness  on 
his  part  it  would,  doubtless,  have  been  much  greater  by  many 
fold. 

And  so  the  first  summer  passed  in  dull-fretting  monotony, 
and  winter  came  ony  and  what  a  winter  it  was !  For  days, 
and  even  weeks,  the  mercury  ranged  between  25  and  30  de- 
grees below  zero,  and  as  these  structures  were  of  weather- 
board and  without  plaster,  and  a  totally  inadequate  supply 
of  fuel  to  keep  us  from  freezing,  the  suffering  was  intense. 
At  night  the  bedding  would  have  to  be-  doubled,  and  the  men 
compelled  to  sleep  by  reliefs  or  installments,  one-half  under 
cover  while  the  other  was  sitting  around  a  stove  to  keep 
from  freezing.  But  we  were  living  in  daily  hope  that  the 
cartel  exchange  would  soon  be  ratified  and  that  we  could  go 
back  and  resume  places  with  our  comrades  in  ranks. 

But  still  another  summer  came  and  went,  and  the  delu- 
sive hope  failed  of  fruition ;  and  so,  another  winter  too,  whilst 
our  numbers  were  being  constantly  repleted  and  depleted, 
the  first  by  capture,  and  the  last  by  death.  The  hospital  was 
kept  filled  to  repletion,  as  I  can  attest  from  actual  experience, 
for  a  month  or  more,  being  on  the  sick-list  during  that  time 
and  forced  to  take  refuge  within  its  limits. 

And  here  I  propose  to  pay  humble  tribute  to  three  as  noble 
fellows  as  it  has  been  my  privilege  to  meet  in  all  life — the 

[185]' 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

hospital  nurses.  One  of  them  was  named  Carpenter,  a  native 
son  of  the  Emerald  Isle,  who  had  enlisted  in  an  Alabama  regi- 
ment. He  and  the  two  others  seemed  to  he  ubiquitous 
amongst  the  sick  and  wounded  cots.  If  Carpenter  ever  slept, 
it  is  more  than  I  can  tell ;  but  certainly,  I  never  called  him, 
in  daytime  or  night,  that  he  was  not  instantly  at  my  side  to 
know  what  was  wanted.  When  convalescence  set  in  for  me, 
I  asked  him  one  day :  " Carpenter,  what  do  you  get  for  this  ?" 
The  noble  fellow  seemed  hurt  by  the  question.  "Get?"  says 
he :  "Colonel,  I  hope  you  do  not  suppose  I  am  doing  this  work 
for  pay."  "If  not,  what  for?"  was  my  reply.  "Because," 
quoth  he,  "it  is  my  duty."  Says  I:  "My  friend,  there  are 
three  thousand  other  men  on  this  accursed  island  who  do  not 
seem  to  regard  it  as  their  duty."  "'No,  but  mine  is  a  peculiar 
case ;  you  see,  that  when  it  was  known  that  we  had  to  fall  back 
after  the  three  days  fight  at  Gettysburg,  my  brigadier  called 
for  volunteers  to  look  after  the  sick  and  wounded  until  the 
enemy  should  come  up  and  take  charge  of  them.  Volunteering 
wasn't  very  brisk  that  day,  and  I  too  held  back  in  hopes  that 
others  would  anticipate  the  call ;  but  as  they  didn't,  I  told  my 
colonel  that  I  would  be  one  of  the  number.  And  so  you  see, 
Colonel,  that  having  volunteered  for  the  work,  I  have  no 
right  to  shirk  or  give  it  up  now."  "My  friend,"  I  said,  "that 
may  be  a  strained  view  to  take,  but  to  my  thinking  you  are 
not  only  a  hero  but  a  self-sacrificing  philanthropist.  Let  me 
thank  you  from  the  bottom  of  an  overflowing  heart,  my 
friend,  for  your  attentions  to  me,  and,  from  my  observation, 
to  others. 

On  returning  to  my  room,  I  set  to  work  to  raise  some  little 
token  in  recognition  of  their  noble  work  and  succeeded  in  col- 
lecting nearly  two  hundred  dollars  in  greenbacks.  On  hand- 
ing the  money  to  him,  his  voice  became  choked  and  he  re- 
marked in  the  rich  brogue  of  his  land :  "The  devil  of  a  cent 

[186] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

of  it  will  I  take."  ''And  if  the  two  others  are  like-minded," 
was  my  reply,  "what  is  to  be  done  with  it?"  "Set  it  aside 
for  a  hospital  fund,"  he  replied;  "relieve  these  poor  gentle- 
men who  need  it  more  than  we."  "Well,  then,  my  noble 
friend;  you  must  consent  to  take  it  and  act  as  their  almoner." 

I  regret  that  the  names  of  the  two  others  have  escaped  me, 
but  trust  that  the  world  has  since  been  good  to  all  of  them. 
When  it  is  taken  into  consideration  that  they  were  undergoing 
all  the  drudgery  of  the  pesthouse,  even  carrying  out  the  re- 
mains of  those  who  died,  there  is  no  denying  that  here  was 
heroism  and  sense  of  duty  surpassing  that  of  a  deadly  charge 
on  the  battlefield. 

As  said,  various  expedients  were  resorted  to  to  secure 
escape,  even  to  attempted  escapade  of  the  sentry's  beat  by  a 
few  bold  and  determined  spirits,  in  which  a  gallant  hero, 
Captain  Bowles,  of  Kentucky,  lost  his  life  in  mounting  the 
scaling  ladder. 

Another  project  which  came  near  being  successful  was 
when  Colonel  Thomas,  the  cidevant  "French  Lady,"  with  a 
dozen  secret  volunteers,  took  passage  at  Detroit  on  one  of  the 
large  lake  steamers  for  Buffalo,  an  understanding  being  that 
on  preconcerted  signal  they  were  to  overpower  the  officers  of 
the  boat,  reduce  the  crew  and  passengers  to  subjection,  land- 
ing the  last  at  the  first  convenient  point,  and  push  in  to 
Johnson's  Island,  where  it  was  understood  we  would  rise, 
overpower  the  guard,  secure  their  arms,  and  take  passage  for 
Canada.  Things  worked  to  a  charm  up  to  the  point  of  cap- 
turning  the  boat  and  landing  the  passengers,  and  whilst  a  few 
of  us  were  on  the  lookout  for  the  rocket-signal  that  was  to  tell 
of  their  coming,  including  Generals  Trimble  and  Archer,  it 
became  manifest  by  another  signal  given  that  the  scheme  had 
miscarried,  it  having  become  known  that  the  Government  war 

[187] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

vessel  "Michigan/'  had  anchored  the  day  before  off  the  island, 
which  would  naturally  make  the  attempt  abortive. 

As  the  scheme  is  now  recalled,  the  correspondence  between 
General  Trimble,  the  ranking  officer  on  the  island,  and  Colo- 
nel Thomas,  strange  as  it  may  sound,  was  carried  on  through 
the  columns  of  a  ISTew  York  daily,  the  'Herald,'  I  believe, 
and  was  after  this  wise,  Thomas  representing  a  Lothario 
under  an  assumed  name  proposing  to  run  off  with  his  sweet- 
heart whom  we  will  designate  as  Mary,  for  short,  and  who 
was  impersonated  by  that  one-legged  old  veteran,  General 
Isaac  R.  Trimble,  of  Baltimore.  Thomas's  message  would 
run :  ''To  Mary.  The  carriage  will  be  at  your  gate  on  such  a 
night.  Be  ready  and  prepared  to  meet  it."  The  answer, 
in  due  time,  would  be:  "Your  notice  of  coming  has  been  re- 
ceived, and  Mary  will  be  ready  as  directed." 

The  sequel  to  have  been,  as  intimated,  was  that  the  few  who 
were  in  the  plot  were  to  rush  from  block  to  block  and  impart 
the  information  that  help  was  at  hand,  and  that  all  that  was 
necessary  for  us  to  do  was  to  overcome  the  guard  on  the 
island,  capture  their  boats  and  steam  away  to  the  Queen's 
dominions.  The  plot  was  not  widely  divulged  for  fear  of  its 
reaching  the  outside  before  time,  and  when  it  became  obvious 
that  there  was  some  miscarriage  in  its  development  the  hearts 
of  all  sank  within  them.  The  papers,  in  due  time,  gave  an 
outline  of  the  failure  of  the  attempt,  and  General  Trimble's 
visitors  returned  to  their  respective  rooms  much  cast  down 
and  heavy  at  heart. 

Tt  may  be  added,  in  this  connection,  that  an  under  officer 
of  the  "Michigan"  dropped  a  note  to  the  engineer  of  that 
boat,  giving  a  hint  of  the  plot  on  foot.  The  confusion  of  the 
last  one  on  reading  it  excited  the  suspicions  of  the  captain, 
and  taking  the  communication  from  the  hands  of  the  other  his 

[188] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOKE. 

suspicions  became  verified,  and  counter  arrangements  were 
made  to  intercept  the  arrival  of  the  'Trench  lady." 

Thus  failed  another  well-conceived  scheme  to  restore  the 
officers  on  the  island  to  their  respective  commands  across  the 
Potomac.  One  other,  perhaps,  to  the  same  intent,  and  I  have 
done  on  that  line. 

During  that  awfully  cold  spell,  when  the  ice  was  about  two 
feet  thick  around  our  prison  pen,  the  thought  was  conceived 
that  if  the  frost  only  extended  across  to  the  Canadian  border 
we  might  rise  and  disarm  the  guard,  as  already  set  forth, 
and  steal  a  march  on  them  for  the  other  side.  The  only  ques- 
tion was  to  determine  whether  the  ice  extended  all  the  way 
across  in  order  that  the  attempt  might  be  made.  In  our  then 
condition,  it  was  impossible  to  tell  without  outside  informa- 
tion, and  this  was  suppressed  by  an  embargo  on  all  papers  for 
a  few  days  thereafter.  It  was  later  known  that  Lake  Erie 
was  frozen  from  shore  to  shore.  The  rescue  of  the  denizens 
on  Johnson's  Island  might  have  given  a  different  issue  to 
the  ultimate  struggle.  "Alas  !  the  best  laid  plans  of  mice  and 
men  gang  aft  aglee." 

A  word  additional  regarding  the  hospital.  It  was  in 
charge,  by  courtesy,  of  three  Confederate  surgeons,  namely, 
Major  Stedman,  Colonel  Maxwell,  and  Captain  Sessions,  men 
eminent  in  their  profession,  but  who  were  enrolled  on  the 
line  of  killers  instead  of  curers.  Active  and  efficient  they  all 
were  in  their  new  assignment  to  duty.  The  Federal  surgeons 
who  had  supervision  of  the  establishment  were  Drs.  Wood 
ward,  a  kindhearted  and  thorough  gentleman,  who  did  all  in 
his  power  to  alleviate  the  sufferings  of  those  with  whom  he  was 
brought  in  contact,  and  one  Eversman  from  the  vater  land, 
as  the  name  imports,  who  would  have  been  a  concentration  of 
the  bully  and  blackguard  had  he  possessed  the  first  requisite 
for  that  position.  Cruel  and  overbearing  he  was  by  nature, 

[189] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

and  delighted  in  giving  needless  offence.  There  was  a  natural 
repugnance  between  this  last-named  pill-maker  and  myself, 
and  deeming  that  my  days  were  numbered  I  was  not  back- 
ward in  giving  him  my  estimate  of  his  true  character  on  the 
occasions  of  his  daily  visits.  The  first-named  of  these  is  still 
held  in  grateful  remembrance  by  every  prisoner  with  whom 
he  was  brought  in  contact,  the  last,  in  utter  loathing.  Com- 
mentary :  It  matters  not  how  exalted  may  be  the  position  of 
those  in  power,  it  is  far  better  for  posthumous  fame  that  they 
prefer  the  roll  of  gentleman  to  that  of  the  bully. 

Before  quitting  the  medical  staff,  it  is  perhaps  apposite  to 
the  occasion  to  speak  of  another  of  the  Eversman  order,  a 
kind  of  orderly,  hospital  steward,  or  something  of  the  sort, 
by  the  name  of  Foster,  the  most  universal  petty  rogue  within 
my  knowledge.  He  had  the  distribution  of  certain  packages 
sent  through  the  express,  and  in  the  beginning  of  his  duties 
was  content  to  appropriate  about  twenty  per  cent  of  the  con- 
tents ;  but  immunity  from  discovery  prompted  him  by  de- 
grees to  extend  his  stealage.  He  rose  to  30,  40,  50,  and 
finally  to  70  per  cent,  when  my  patience  became  thoroughly 
exhausted,  and  I  told  him  that  his  cupidity,  to  call  it  by  a 
mild  name,  would  be  reported  to  General  Shaler  if  his  con- 
duct was  not  corrected.  Thereupon  he  put  on  the  air  of  a 
much  injured  man,  and  remarked  in  high  dudgeon :  "I 
would  have  you  know,  Colonel  Green,  that  I  am  an  officer  of 
the  ITnited  States  Army,  and  no  man  shall  twit  me  with  steal- 
ing." My  reply  was:  "Then  leave  it  off,  Foster,  and  no 
man  will  do  it."  Am  glad  to  say  that  after  my  little  moral 
lecture  to  the  fellow  and  threat  of  exposure,  he  let  up  some- 
what on  his  avarice  of  appropriation  of  others  goods. 

One  of  the  most  popular  of  our  jailers  was  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Scoville,  who  for  the  life  of  him  couldn't  say  "No." 
He  had  charge  of  approving  all  papers  emanating  from  the 

[190] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

iuside  on  the  powers  that  be,  and  never  failed  to  affix  his  sig- 
nature to  each  and  every  one,  which  amounted  to  little  in 
the  end.  As  his  amiable  weakness  had  long  been  seen 
through,  a  wag  from  Florida  resolved  to  have  a  little  fun  out 
of  him,  and  made  a  formal  requisition  on  the  Secretary  of 
War,  embracing  six  field-pounders  with  grape  and  other  suit- 
able ammunition  for  the  same,  one  thousand  muskets,  and  ten 
thousand  rounds  of  ammunition,  one  hundred  sabres  well 
sharpened,  and  ten  thousand  rations.  The  worthy  colonel, 
without  running  his  eye  over  the  novel  document,  signed  it, 
and  promised  to  deliver  to  his  chief,  Colonel  Pearson,  who 
was  in  high  dudgeon  when  he  saw  that  Scoville  had  approved 
the  requisition.  Suffice  it,  that  none  of  these  essential  ar- 
ticles looking  to  a  severance  of  enforced  connection  ever  came 
to  hand.  Let  it  be  added  that  Scoville  was  another  to  whom 
the  proud  old  prefix  'gentleman'  might  be  applied.  He 
strayed  down  to  Nashville  after  the  war,  and  he  and  his  old 
friend,  Fite,  became  great  cronies.  Whilst  many  thought 
him  more  profuse  of  promise  than  performance,  they,  never- 
theless, made  allowance  for  the  prompting  impulse  at  the  bot- 
tom, which  forbade  his  hurting  the  feelings  of  others. 

Having  thus  given  a  brief  glimpse  of  the  character  of  our 
jailers,  perhaps  brief  allusion  to  some  of  the  jail-birds  would 
not  be  out  of  place.  First  of  all,  of  glorious  old  Isaac  Trim- 
ble, one  of  the  early  graduates  of  the  Military  Academy,  and 
the  engineer-in-chief  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Kailroad. 
After  espousing  our  side,  he  rapidly  reached  the  rank  of 
major-general,  and  caught  a  musket-ball  in  his  leg  at  Chan- 
cellorsville.  "Cut  it  off,  Doctor,  cut  it  off,"  was  his  impera- 
tive command  to  the  surgeon  in  charge.  "N"o,  General," 
came  the  reply;  "I  can  save  your  leg."  "And  prevent  my 
taking  part  in  the  campaign  next  across  the  Potomac,  which 
I  am  convinced  will  not  be  far  off."     In  Pickett's  historic 

[191] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

charge  he  was  second  in  command  after  Pender  fell,  and  was 
picked  up  by  the  Federal  ambulance  men  and  carried  back  to 
an  improvised  hospital,  when  amputation  of  the  previously 
wounded  leg  became  imperative.  Later  on  his  own  surgeon 
received  permission  to  come  and  wait  upon  his  chief,  when,  to 
his  surprise,  the  old  man  opened  upon  him  in  language  far 
from  loving.  "If,  sir,  you  had  obeyed  my  orders  at  Chan- 
cellorsville  and  taken  off  this  leg,  I  could  have  kept  on  in 
that  glorious  charge  up  that  hill.  Let  it  be  a  lesson  to  you, 
sir,  hereafter  to  always  obey  the  orders  of  your  superiors." 
I  knew  the  old  hero  before  and  later  on,  and  ever  found  him 
that  kind-hearted,  courtly  gentleman;  that  he  was  born  and 
died. 

John  R.  Fellows,  a  boy-lieutenant  in  General  Beall's  room, 
just  opposite,  was  one  whom  it  pleased  me  to  study  and 
honor.  He  was  known  in  his  adopted  State  of  Arkansas  as 
the  Little  Giant,  in  imitation  of  Stephen  A.  Douglass,  the 
Little  Giant  of  Illinois.  His  readiness  of  speech  and  flow 
of  oratory  were  almost  phenomenal.  Although  a  Northern 
man  by  birth,  he  had  run  away  from  home  when  twelve  years 
old,  and  developed  in  the  wild  woods  of  Arkansas.  A  single 
anecdote  of  his  readiness  of  speech  will  illustrate  the  man. 
When,  in  due  time,  the  22d  of  February  came  along  and  our 
friends  onthe  outsidewere  making  agreat  jubilee  overthe  day, 
it  occurred  to  some  of  us  on  the  inside  that  we  had  as  good,  if 
not  better,  right  to  enthuse  over  George's  natal  day  than  they 
had ;  and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  wait  on  the  Little 
Giant,  who  was  asleep  in  his  room,  and  demand  that  he  come 
out  at  once  and  give  us  a  counter  blast  on  patriotism.  He 
tried  to  get  around  it,  but  was  forced  down,  vi  et  armis,  and 
mounted  on  the  platform  of  an  upper  floor  around  which  a 
crowd  was  assembled,  and  for  half  an  hour  I  have  never 
heard   such   a   burst  of  oratory   as   escaped   his  lips.     The 

[192] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

crowd  by  this  time  had  been  augmented  by  almost  every 
prisoner  on  the  island,  who  vied  with  each  other  in  outburst 
of  applause.  This  became  so  great  that  the  authorities  on 
the  outside  concluded  that  we  were  premeditating  an  out- 
break, and  marched  in  a,  detachment  of  troops  to  quell  or  dis- 
perse us.  Owing  to  our  close-wedged  mass,  it  took  the  officer 
in  command  some  time  to  get  to  the  foot  of  the  stair-case,  and 
just  before  he  started  to  ascend  the  band  on  the  outside 
struck  up  "The  Star  Spangled  Banner,"  under  which  they 
were  playing.  Then  it  was  inborn  genius  rose  to  the  superla- 
tive. "Yes,"  he  exclaimed,  as  if  in  rejoinder  to  the  tune, 
"the  Star  Spangled  Banner,  yon  flaunting  lie ;  long  may  it 
wave  over  the  land  of  the  thief  and  the  home  of  the  knave." 
Perhaps  the  exordium  did  not  bring  down  the  house.  As  the 
Federal  captain  reached  the  top  of  the  stair-case  and  tapped 
him  on  the  shoulder,  he  said:  "Look  here,  sir,  this  thing  has 
got  to  stop."  "Certainly,  sir,"  said  Fellows,  in  his  suavest 
tones,  "I  had  just  finished  as  you  came  up,"  and  we  dispersed 
with  three-cheers  for  the  Little  Giant  of  Arkansas.  Later 
on,  he  married  a  young  lady  in  Memphis  as  deficient  in  this 
world's  gear  as  he  was  himself,  and  carried  her  on  to  New 
York  with  hardly  the  wherewith  to  pay  passage,  but  his 
genius  was  infectious  and  soon  he  was  made  first  assistant 
district  attorney  of  the  city  of  New  York,  and  a  little  later 
full  official  of  that  position.  Then  it  was  determined  that 
he  would  better  fill  the  position  of  Member  of  Congress  of  the 
United  States  Legislature,  and  so  they  sent  him  to  Washing- 
ton by  an  overwhelming  majority,  and  sent  him  again,  in 
each  of  which  positions  he  left  a  name  behind.  Am  glad  to 
say  that  I  have  had  one  visit  from  him  after  his  exaltation, 
and  he  was  on  the  way  for  another,  which  decrepitude  cut 
short. 

13  T 193  ] 


CHAPTER   XV. 

Finally  tke  auspicious  day  came.  The  prisoners  were  be- 
ing sent  home  by  alphabetical  list,  and  the  last  batch  before 
the  surrender  chanced  to  include  my  name,  the  last  on  the  list, 
thus  bringing  in  the  fateful  "ISTo.  1"  again.  Nothing  of  inci 
dent  occurred  until  going,  down  Chesapeake  Bay  in  an  over- 
crowded cattle-boat  in  a  drenching  rain.  Seeing  no  better 
place  for  sleeping  quarters,  I  concluded  to  straddle  a  water- 
barrel  just  under  the  eaves  of  the  boat.  It  was  not  a  very 
comfortable  accommodation  as  the  water  was  trickling  down 
my  back  all  the  time,  but  still  it  was  the  best  that  could  be 
had.  While  trying  to  catch  a  moment's  respite  of  slumber,  it 
became  obvious  that  some  one  was  fumbling  in  my  front  pocket 
Rousing  myself,  I  saw  that  he  was  one  of  the  guard,  and 
grabbed  him  by  the  throat  with  my  left  hand  while  planting 
a  full-aimed  blow  in  his  face  with  the  other. 

On  reaching  Aiken's  Landing,  Virginia,  the  point  of  ex- 
change, we  were  compelled  to  walk  a  mile  or  two  over  to 
where1  the  Confederate  boat  came  down,  namely,  "Varina." 
The  Federal  Commissioner  of  exchange  planted  a  number  of 
negro  troops  between  us  and  the  boat  that  we  had  to  take, 
with  orders  to  allow  no  one  to  go  aboard  until  the  order  was 
given.  The  poor  fellows,  however,  in  their  great  anxiety 
to  set  foot  on  Confederate  soil  once  more,  made  a  rush  for  the 
gangway,  when  the  darkey  in  charge  of  that  particular  point 
commenced  backing  with  the  outcry:  "Keep  back,  white  folks, 
keep  back !  If  you  don't  keep  back,  how  can  I  keep  you 
back  V  To  my  conception,  the  exclamation  on  his  part  was 
an  admission  of  the  value  of  that  sort  of  material  in  war. 

The  return  from  there  to  Richmond  was  a  sort  of  tender- 
foot affair  as  it  was  known  that  the  river  was  planted  with 

[1941 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOKE. 

torpedoes  and  the  slightest  deviation  from  line  would  prob- 
ably occasion  a  blow-up.  Arriving  in  the  Capital  city,  things 
wore  a  gloomy  look  indeed  preliminary  to  the  final  crash. 
Going  to  the  Spottiswood  Hotel  with  my  friend  General 
Rucker,  a  one-armed  soldier  of  old  Forrest's,  who  started  into 
the  breakfast-room,  Rucker  wearing  a  fancy  hat  with  an 
ostrich  feather  which  I  had  given  him  at  Cumberland,  Mary- 
land, and  which  he  proceeded  to  hang  on  a  peg  at  the  door. 
In  reply  to  my  caution  that  he  had  better  take  his  head-gear 
in  with  him,  he  said :  "No,  Green,  we  are  back  in  God's 
country  now,  where  folks  don't  steal  hats."  On  getting  a  very 
indifferent  breakfast,  after  the  Confederate  menu,  we  saw 
only  three  or  four  capital  coverings  and  lo !  Rucker' s  was  not 
of  the  number.  They  were  to  all  appearances  old  cam- 
paigners with  brims  gone  and  holes  through  the  tops.  The 
poor  General  looked  aghast,  and  remarked:  "I  don't  know 
what  has  become  of  my  hat."  "Why,"  I  said,  "there  it  is," 
pointing  to  the  most  dilapidated  specimen  of  the  lot.  Said 
I:  "Recollect,  Rucker,  we  are  back  in  God's  country,  where 
folks  don't  steal  hats."  According  to  recollection,  I  had  to 
shell  out  fifty  dollars  additional  (Confederate,  be  it  under- 
stood) for  him  to  go  down  Main  street  in  search  of  another 
head-covering. 

Two  days  later  my  home  was  reached  on  Shocco  Creek, 
which  I  had  left  two  years  previously.  It  was  a  gala  return 
all  around,  including  white  folks  and  negroes.  After  waiting 
ten  or  fifteen  days,  I  proceeded  to  order  another  mount  for 
myself  and  Guilford,  and  was  about  starting  in  search  of  the 
grand  army  when  stragglers  began  dropping  in,  who  with  one 
accord  reported  that  General  Lee  had  surrendered.  On  this 
fact  being  established  beyond  doubt,  my  heart  sank  within 
me,  and  I  am  not  ashamed  to  confess  that  I  broke  out  blub- 
bering and  kept  it  up  for  an  hour  or  two,  for  it  was  the  great 

[1951 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

disappointment  in  my  life,  the  reflection  constantly  recurring 
- — and  all  for  naught.  The  success  of  our  cause  had  been  for 
long  years  the  dream  and  hallucination  of  life,  and  the  out- 
come was  blank  despair.  Such,  I  presume,  was  the  experi- 
ence of  most  others  who  had  staked  all  on  the  issue. 

Our  friend,  Mrs.  William  Polk,  and  cousin,  Miss  Currier, 
having  made  up  their  minds  to  go  north  in  search  of  additional 
outfit,  it  became  incumbent  on  me  to  go  with  them  to  Raleigh 
to  secure  passports  for  the  trip,  which  was  effected  through 
two  old  West  Point  friends,  Generals  Schofield  and  Ruger. 
The  two  Confederate  dames  had  gotten  themselves  up  re- 
gardless for  their  re-advent  into  the  fashionable  world,  but 
on  making  their  entrance  into  the  parlors  of  the  old  St, 
Nicholas  Hotel  there  was  an  explosion  of  laughter  at  their 
uncouth  appearance.  My  consolation  to  them,  on  their  return 
was :  "Well,  it  is  some  satisfaction  to  you  to  know  that  you 
created  a  sensation  on  your  re-appearance." 

The  next  two  or  three  years  were  a  period  of  political  un- 
certainty for  the  entire  South,  for  no  one  knew  what  to- 
morrow would  bring  forth.  At  that  period  I  was  selected  as 
one  of  the  delegates  to  the  National  Democratic  Convention, 
which  was  to  assemble  at  New  York.  We  met  replete  with 
foolish  hope  that  something  would  be  done  to  obliterate  recent 
by-gones.  Governor  Seymour,  than  whom  a  purer,  abler, 
more  gifted  man  could  not  be  found  in  the  entire  country, 
was  the  presiding  officer,  and  later  on  received  the  nomination 
for  President  under  his  most  earnest  and  strenuous  protest. 
Two  days  later  I  met  him  on  the  boat  going  up  to  Saratoga, 
and  his  hopes  for  Democratic  success  seemed  entirely  to  have 
vanished.  He  remarked  just  before  reaching  Albany,  "You 
gentlemen  from  North  Carolina  forced  my  nomination  upon 
the  convention  and  thereby  excluded  all  possibility  of  suc- 
cess at  the  polls."     As  I  now  recall  his  idea,  policy  enjoined 

[196] 


<     5 


jJ^Jti' 


AN  AUTO  OF   HALF  A   CENTTJEY  AND  MOKE. 

that  a  soldier  should  be  off-set  by  a  soldier — Grant  by  Han- 
cock. As  now  seen,  in  retrospect,  there  was  no  name  or  com- 
bination of  names  that  could  have  prevented  the  success  of  the 
North's  great  idol,  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  and  so  it  appears  in  a 
subsequent  convention,  in  which  his  name  led  the  ticket  of  his 
party. 

I  was  made  the  nominee  of  my  party  for  elector  shortly 
afterwards,  and  made  an  active  canvass  in  furtherance  of  the 
object,  knowing  all  the  time  that  it  was  a  hopeless  endeavor. 
The  year  succeeding  I  was  out  in  nomination  for  Congress  in 
the  old  Third  District  of  North  Carolina,  composed  of  the 
strongest  negro  counties  in  the  State,  and  although  the  normal 
majority  was  considerably  reduced,  it  was  not  cut  down  suffi- 
ciently to  give  any  showing  of  an  election. 

All  of  this  time  I  was  raising  corn  and  tobacco  and  the 
other  et  ceteras  incident  to  farming,  making  a  reasonable  sup- 
port. Later  on  my  attention  was  attracted  to  the  Tokay 
vineyard,  near  Fayetteville,  North  Carolina,  said  at  the  time 
to  be  the  largest  one  this  side  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  It 
was  purchased  and  improvements  begun  upon  an  extensive 
scale,  and  it  has  been  a  source  of  solace  to  me,  saying  nothing 
of  profit,  ever  since. 

A  year  or  two  after  moving  here  I  was  put  in  nomination 
for  Congress  and  elected  by  an  even  five  hundred  majority. 
Thence  forward  my  residence  was  chiefly  in  the  Federal  Cap- 
ital, and  my  associates  mainly  with  members  of  Congress. 
The  first  session,  with  two  of  my  daughters,  I  was  domiciled 
at  the  Ebbitt  and  was  brought  in  contact  with  numbers  of 
congenial  spirits,  amongst  them  being  William  McKinley  and 
his  wife.  The  duties  of  the  House,  while  not  arduous,  re- 
quired pretty  constant  attention,  and  some  of  the  most  agree- 
able acquaintances  followed  ;  amongst  these  may  be  mentioned 
S.    S.    Cox,   commonly    known    as   Sunset    Cox;     Governor 

[197  J 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

Curtin,  Benton  McMillin,  John  Ballentine,  William  Hatch, 
Hilary  Herbert,  James  Blount,  Robert  Davidson,  Charles, 
O'Ferrall,  Charles  Crisp,  George  Cabell,  William  Forney, 
Otho  Singleton,  John  Reagan,  William  Springer,  Seaborn 
Reese,  William  Oates,  William  Ferry,  James  Richardson  and 
John  O'jSTeilL  Apropos,  of  the  last-named  follows  an  an- 
necdote.  He  and  I  were  appointed  as  representatives  of  our 
respective  States  to  attend  the  opening  of  the  JSTew  Orleans 
Exposition,  which  was  to  be  done  by  the  President,  Grover 
Cleveland,  touching  a  button.  I  was  about  to  attend  in  or- 
dinary dress,  when  meeting  the  Speaker,  (Mr.  Carlisle,)  who 
told  me  it  was  to  be  a  full-dress  affair  and  that  I  had  better 
hurry  home  and  put  on  my  swallow-tail.  Shortly  after  I  en- 
countered O'JSTeill,  and  told  him  what  I  had  just  heard,  and  he 
too  rushed  to  his  room  and  ensconced  himself  in  one.  At  the 
auspicious  moment,  to  my  surprise  and  mortification,  Johnny 
and  I  were  the  only  two  fellows  in  swallow-tails,  and  I  over- 
heard one  of  those  ubiquitous  individuals  known  as  reporters, 
remark  to  another:  "What  fool  is  that  over  there  in  evening 
dress  V  pointing  at  Johnny.  I  took  the  hint,  and  not  wishing 
to  appear  in  the  papers  in  that  connection,  dropped  down 
into  a  big  arm  chair  near  by  and  covered  the  nether  ends  of 
the  obnoxious  garment  with  my  arms.  The  next  day  Johnny 
appeared  in  full  print  with  the  sole  honors  of  war,  as  the  only 
gentleman  present  arrayed  in  evening  dress,  and  commenting 
upon  his  dignified  appearance  in  that  hateful  garment  worn 
chiefly  by  undertakers  and  headwaiters.  Due  discretion, 
doubtless,  prevented  my  showing  off  in  the  same  connection. 
Whilst  in  the  other  house,  besides  our  own  Senators,  Ran- 
som and  Vance,  may  be  named  primarily  those  of  our  sister 
State  on  the  south,  Wade  Hampton,  whom,  in  the  post-meri- 
dian of  life,  I  loved  first  and  foremost  of  all  men,  and  M.  C. 
Butler;    Joe   Blackburn,    commonly   called    "Old    Joe,"   for 

[198] 


AN"  auto  of  half  a  century  and  more. 

short,  although,  he  was  the  youngest  man  in  that  body ;  George 
and  Walthall,  of  Mississippi ;  Jones  and  Berry,  of  Arkansas ; 
George  Pendleton,  of  Ohio,  Brown,  of  Georgia,  and  Vest  and 
Cockrell,  of  Missouri. 

Wishing  to  master  the  duties  of  the  position,  I  gave  very 
little  attention  to  social  calls,  but  devoted  the  evenings  almost 
exclusively  to  work.  And  here  let  it  be  remarked,  in  passing, 
that  new  members  are  of  very  little  use  or  utility  to  their 
constituents  in  the  first  term  or  two.  Men  of  mediocre  ability 
often  make  a  mark  by  long  continued  service.  During  my 
first  term  I  framed  and  introduced  bills,  and  supported  them 
by  set  speeches,  which  I  deemed  of  utility  to  the  country  at 
large.  Among  these  may  be  mentioned  a  bill  against  food 
and  drug  adulteration,  the  first,  I  believe,  looking  to  that  end, 
although  the  subject  is  now  receiving  most  serious  considera- 
tion from  both  Houses  of  Congress,  including  the  President 
and  his  Cabinet.  Another,  a  bill  for  an  appropriation  for  a 
public  building  in  Wilmington,  which  passed,  and  with  some 
accretion  from  the  Senate  s;ave  that  citv  the  most  ornate  struc- 
ture  in  the  limits  of  the  State.  Also  a  bill  for  an  inter-inland 
waterway  between  Norfolk  and  Beaufort,  looking  to  extension 
later  on  to  Jacksonville,  Florida,  which  is  also  receiving  due 
regard  at  this  time  from  the  present  Congress. 

Upon  the  expiration  of  my  first  term  in  Congress  my  name 
was  brought  before  the  nominating  convention  for  re-election, 
and  won  through  without  difficulty ;  election  followed  by  some 
twenty-five  hundred  majority,  or  five  times  what  it  was  two 
years  previously.  On  resuming  seat  for  the  second  term,  I 
rented  a  private  residence  at  the  corner  of  Sixteenth  and  Q. 
Streets,  belonging  to  my  old  friend,  General  Innis  Palmer, 
of  the  United  States  Army,  where  with  my  children  and  serv- 
ants I  lived  a  very  quiet  life  for  the  two  years  to  follow,  and 
where  my  oldest  daughter,  then  Mrs.  Pembroke  Jones,  kept 

[199] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

house  for  me.  Other  measures  followed  in  the  way  of  pre- 
sentation, some  with  ultimate  success,  but  not  worth  recapi- 
tulation. 

In  the  second  session  of  the  same  (the  Forty-ninth  Con- 
gress) I  broke  up  housekeeping  and  moved  down  to  the  old 
National  Hotel,  where  the  rest  of  the  term  was  passed.  My 
next  door  neighbor,  in  rotation  of  rooms,  was  Captain  Joe 
Blackburn,  then  United  States  Senator,  with  whom  a  strong 
friendship  sprung  up,  which  has  lasted  ever  since,  and  upon 
whom  a  good  joke  comes  in  apropos.  One  night  when  he  and 
a  number  of  other  friends  were  assembled,  I  put  the  question 
direct:  "Captain  Joe,  what  do  you  think  of  General  Jack- 
son ?  Not  Stonewall,  but  the  other."  "Oh,"  says  he,  "You 
mean  'Old  Hickory.'  '  And  upon  acquiescence,  he  replied : 
"A  great  man,  sir,  a  grand  man,  who  has  had  few  equals  in 
this  or  any  land."  To  this  my  rejoinder  came:  "Did  you  ever 
see  what  he  said  of  his  Kentucky  contingent  in  the  great  bat- 
tle?" "No,  but  it  must  have  been  a  glorious  tribute  to  those 
noble  fellows,"  was  Joe's  reply.  "Judge  for  yourself,  my 
friend.  He  said,  for  some  unaccountable  reason  the  Kentuck- 
ians  on  the  other  side  of  the  river  became  panic-stricken  and 
ran  like  wild  turkeys."  "Where  did  you  get  that  ?"  was  his  in- 
dignant rejoinder.  "From  his  original  dispatch  just  after  the 
great  battle  which  was  published  in  a  Washington  paper  a  few 
days  later  on,  and  a  copy  of  which  is  now  posted  up  in  Han- 
cock's saloon  where  you  may  at  some  time  have  strayed  in." 
"Well,"  the  Senator  remarked,  "it  only  shows  him  what  I 
have  always  known  him  to  be — a  first-class  d —  fool." 

I  had  early  become  the  possessor  of  a  fine  Kentucky  thor- 
ough-bred saddle-horse,  and  my  afternoons  after  office-hours 
were  spent  on  his  back  frequently  in  company  with  my  old 
friend,  General  Hampton,  who  likewise  owned  one  that  he 
thought  incomparable.     On  the  eve  of  purchase  he  and  Gen- 

[  200  ] 


GENERAL  WADE  HAMPTON. 


AN   AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

eral  Ransom  were  called  upon  to  pass  judgment  upon  the 
merits  of  the  Kentuckian,  and  Ransom  mounted  him  to  show 
off  his  gaits.  "Only  a  pacer/'  was  the  great  cavalryman's  con- 
temptuous criticism:  "I  wouldn't  have  him  as  a  free  gift." 
A  few  days  later  his  one-legged  lieutenant,  Butler,  asked  me 
if  I  wouldn't  take  a  turn  with  him  out  in  the  country,  remark- 
ing that  General  Hampton  had  loaned  him  his  horse  and  that 
he  would  meet  me  up  at  Xaillor's  stable,  where  my  own  was 
kept,  at  four  o'clock.  On  coming  up  he  was  in  a  state  of  fer- 
ment, remarking,  "Old  Hamp.  thinks  he  is  a  judge  of  horse- 
flesh, but  I  would  not  have  this  thing  if  he  would  give  him  to 
me;"  adding,  "he  only  has  one  gait,  and  that  is  a  pace." 
"Singular  coincidence  that,  Butler,"  was  my  reply,  "as  it 
was  precisely  the  condemnation  he  put  on  mine  a  few  weeks 
ag'o.,,  He  rejoined :  "He  hasn't  heard  the  last  of  it,  for  I  will 
ring  it  on  him."  As  he  did,  much  to  the  older  General's  dis- 
gruntlement,  eliciting  the  remark :  "Butler  knows  nothing 
more  about  a  horse  than  you  do."  Be  it  understood,  with- 
out possibility  of  mistake,  that  the  Butler  referred  to  was  of 
South  Carolina,  and  not  North. 

In  this,  my  second  term,  be  it  understood,  I  was  up  at  the 
head  of  the  Committee  on  Agriculture,  next  to  the  Chairman, 
my  old  friend,  Bill  Hatch,  and  Chairman  of  the  Committee 
on  Ventilation  and  Acoustics.  One  of  the  first  committee  was 
a  muti-millionaire,  but  one  whom  I  never  took  to.  He  took  it 
into  his  head  to  die  one  day,  and  Hatch  did  me  the  honor  to 
invite  me  to  preach  his  Congressional  funeral,  which  I  re- 
spectfully declined,  remarking:  "You  know,  Hatch,  that  he 
and  I  bore  each  other  no  love  in  life,  and  for  me  now  to 
get  up  and  lavish  eulogium  upon  him  would  be  the  sheerest 
hypocrisy."  He  smilingly  returned:  "I  was  afraid  you 
would  decline  the  honor,  but  thought  it  due  you,  being  the 


[201] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

senior  member  of  the  committee  to  give  you  the  chance  of  so 
doing." 

Hatch,  be  it  understood,  was  Confederate  Commissioner 
of  Exchange,  and  did  his  best  to  effect  one  for  me,  but  found 
it  a  fruitless  effort  as  favors  at  that  time  were  not  going  by 
kissing.  A  glorious  fellow  he  was,  but  he  shortly  afterwards 
passed  out  of  Congress  and  over  the  river  to  rest  in  the  shade 
with  Stonewall  and  the  others  who  had  gone  before. 

On  the  expiration  of  my  second  term  I  returned  home  to 
take  my  chance  for  a  third  nomination,  and  it  was  evident 
from  the  start  that  it  would  come  with  my  permission.  The 
district  was  hampered  with  the  two-thirds  rule  and  my  friends 
urged  its  abrogation,  trying  to  get  my  consent  to  its  being 
done.  This  wTas  refused  on  the  ground  that  if  two^thirds  of 
my  district  did  not  wish  me  to  continue  as  their  representa- 
tive, it  was  immaterial  whether  I  was  selected  or  not.  The 
record  will  show  that  through  330  consecutive  ballots,  lasting 
all  night,  my  majority  was  overwhelmingly  large  and  within 
a  small  fraction  of  the  requisite  two-thirds,  wdrich  could  not 
be  reached,  however,  owing  to  a  combination  of  opponents  and 
their  adherents,  who  had  attended  with  the  avowed  purpose  of 
securing  my  defeat.  At  the  hazard  of  having  "sour-grapes" 
thrown  in  my  teeth,  be  it  candidly  said,  that  the  result  occa- 
sioned but  little  regret  at  the  time  and  still  less  since,  not 
caring  to  be  a  mere  figure-head  as  nine  out  of  every  ten  in  the 
House  usually  are. 

Returning  home  I  found,  and  have  found  since,  that  satis- 
faction in  my  library  and  fish-pond,  which  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives failed  to  bring,  which  was  shortly  afterwards 
augmented,  and  has  since  continued,  through  the  fellowship 
of  my  second  wife,  and  the  visits  of  a  few  well  selected  and 
honored  friends,  at  the  head  of  whom,  as  stated  before,  is 
ranked  Wade  Hampton,  noblest  Ronian  of  them  all.     A  short 

[  202  j 


AN  ATJTO  OF  HALF  A  CE^TUKY  AXD  MOBF. 

while  before  his  death  he  stopped  by  on  a  visit  of  a  few  days, 
passed  mostly  with  me  at  the  fish-pond.  He  soon  stated  to 
Mrs.  Green  that  his  object  was  to  get  her  consent  to  my  going 
down  to  Charleston  with  him  where  he  was  booked  for  a 
speech  to  the  old  soldiers,  and  then  to  continue  out  to  the 
Pacific  coast  on  his  private  car  on  a  tour  of  official  inspection, 
he  being  at  that  time  United  States  Commissioner  of  Rail- 
roads. 


[203] 


CHAPTER   XVI. 
CONCLUSION. 

A    TRIP    TO    THE    PACIFIC HOME   AGAIN. 

Arriving  in  Washington  on  the  28th  of  May,  1895,  General 
Hampton  observed  that  he  had  an  invitation  for  me  to  con- 
tinue on  with  himself  and  invited  party  to  Chicago  to  attend 
the  unveiling  of  a  monument  to  the  Confederate  prisoners 
who  had  died  there  during  the  war.  The  party  consisted  be- 
sides himself  of  Generals  Heth  (and  daughter)  Lomax, 
(whom  I  had  not  seen  before  since  we  were  boys  at  West 
Point,  and  his  wife,)  Butler,  French  and  Hunton;  Col- 
onel Erwin;  Majors  Conrad  (and  wife),  Hunter  and 
Mitchell;  Mr.  Robinson;  Captain  Littlepage  (and  wife); 
Mrs.  Akers,  and  the  two  Misses  Washington,  an  agreeable 
and  congenial  party,  and  having  the  coach  to  ourselves  had  a 
most  delightful  trip  to  the  City  on  the  Lakes,  where  we 
arrived  on  the  morning  of  the  29th  of  May  and  found  a  com- 
mittee of  city  officials  and  others  at  the  depot  with  twelve  or 
fifteen  open  carriages  to  receive  and  escort  the  party  to  the 
Palmer  House  where  elegant  apartments  were  prepared  for 
them. 

In  the  afternoon  a  largely  attended  reception  was  given  in 
the  parlors  of  the  hotel,  other  distinguished  Confederates  hav- 
ing arrived  from  different  points,  including  Lieutenants-Gen- 
eral Longstreet  and  Stephen  D.  Lee.  At  night  a  superb 
banquet  of  some  three  hundred  covers  was  given  the  party 
with  a  fine  band  of  music  in  the  gallery.  As  a  rule,  the  after- 
dinner  speeches  on  the  occasion  were  good,  far  above  the 
average. 

On  the  30th  of  May  we  were  escorted  to  the  cars  in  open 
carriages  as  before  with  a  company  of  cavalry.      Took  the 

[204] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTUKY  AND  MO!RE. 

train  and  went  out  to  the  World's  Fair  grounds,  where  other 
carriages  took  us  out  to  the  cemetery.  An  immense  crowd, 
estimated  at  from  30,000  to  40,000,  was  present,  and  the 
best  of  order  and  considerable  enthusiasm  prevailed  during 
the  exercises.  General  Hampton  made  an  eloquent  speech 
upon  which  he  was  much  complimented. 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  31st  we  were  escorted  in  carriages 
through  the  parks,  I  being  assigned  to  the  carriage  containing 
General  French,  and  Mrs.  Akers  and  Mrs.  Hollenberg.  In 
the  evening  all  of  the  party,  except  General  Hampton  and 
myself,  started  back  to  Washington,  taking  my  trunk  with 
them  by  mistake.  A  telegram,  however,  overtook  it  on  the 
road  and  brought  it  back  the  next  morning. 

On  June  1st,  passed  the  day  in  sight-seeing,  Senator  Mc- 
Pherson,  who  was  to  accompany  us,  having  arrived.  Met  a 
very  pleasant  acquaintance  in  Mr.  A.  B.  Meeker,  who  was 
exceedingly  polite  and  attentive.  At  11  p.  m.,  started  west 
with  General  Hampton  and  his  Secretary,  Mr.  Thomas,  and 
Senator  McPherson,  on  the  General's  special  car,  well 
adapted  to  comfort  and  convenience,  and  with  a  capital  cook 
and  steward.  After  a  pleasant  night's  rest  and  a  good  break- 
fast, arrived  in  Saint  Paul  and  laid  over  until  the  afternoon. 
Took  advantage  of  the  stop  to  see  the  town,  and  a  very  pretty 
one  it  is. 

June  3rd,  continued  west  at  forty  miles  an  hour,  passing  a 
good  part  of  the  day  in  playing  euchre,  McPherson  and  I 
beating  the  General  and  Thomas.  Good  appetite,  good  cook- 
ing and  sound  sleep,  made  me  feel  better  on  the  morning  of 
the  4th'  when  we  reached  Livingston  and  were  switched  off 
to  Yellowstone  Park,  arriving  at  the  outskirts  about  11 :00, 
and  took  stage  for  the  Mammoth  Springs  Hotel.  Passed 
the  rest  of  the  day  there,  visiting  the  famous  fountains,  and  so 
forth.     The  wonders  of  this  wonderland  begin  here,  which 

[205] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

words  are  inadequate  to  describe.  Captain  Anderson,  of  the 
Army,  who  was  stationed  there  with  his  company  in  charge 
of  the  park,  passed  the  evening  with  us,  intending  to  go  our 
way  in  the  morning  for  forty  miles.  He  told  General  Hamp- 
ton that  he  had  boat  ready  for  him  to  fish  in  up  at  the  geysers, 
and  would  send  it  up  there  in  the  morning.  Engaged  a  coach 
and  four  good  horses  and  started  thither  the  next  morning, 
passing  various  objects  of  interest  and  curiosity  through  some 
of  the  wildest  and  most  sublime  scenery  in  the  world.  Among 
these  may  be  mentioned  the  Obsidiam,  or  natural  glass  cliffs, 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  long  and  rising  perpendicularly  hundreds 
of  feet,  and  numerous  boiling,  or  rather  seething,  springs  of 
great  magnitude.  The  lake  is  as  blue  as  indigo,  and  there 
were  springs  of  arsenic,  soda,  and  Apollinaris.  Stopped  at  a 
large  tent  half  way  and  got  a  good  dinner  of  Yellowstone 
trout.  As  we  were  nearing  our  destination,  the  fountain, 
stopped  over  and  fished  for  a  while,  and  were  joined  by  Cap- 
tains Anderson  and  Scott,  of  the  U.  S.  Army,  who  met  us 
on  horseback  with  a  couple  of  cavalrymen  and  refreshments, 
and  made  us  stop  over  at  their  camp  a  mile  or  two  beyond 
and  partake  of  more  refreshments.  After  supper  they  called 
and  passed  the  evening  with  us. 

Shortly  after  reaching  the  inn,  the  fountain-geyser,  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  in  front  of  the  hotel,  began  playing  after 
numerous  premonitory  throes,  which  gave  time  to  see  the 
whole  of  it  and  also  the  soap  caldrons,  an  excellent  imitation 
of  two  immense  soap  kettles  boiling  different  colored  muds. 
The  whole  plain  in  front  of  the  hotel  is  covered  with  geysers 
and  hot  springs,  the  stream  from  which  could  be  seen  in  all 
directions.  There  were  good  rooms  but  ordinary  table  at 
both  of  our  hotels. 

On  June  6th,  started  up  to  the  great  geyser  basin,  eight 
miles  above,  but  left  General  Hampton  and  Thomas  half-way 

[206] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

up  on  the  Fire-Hole  River  to  try  the  trout,  while  the  Senator 
and  I  kept  on  to  the  geyser  basin.  Some  forty  or  fifty  of  them 
are  in  view  at  the  same  time  besides  hundreds  of  hot  springs 
of  immense  size.  The  guide  books  obviate  the  necessity  of 
stereotyped  descriptions  of  these  great  curiosities,  taken  as 
an  entirety,  perhaps  the  greatest  in  the  world.  When  within 
half-mile  of  General  Hampton's  halting  place,  the  Senator 
and  I  alighted  and  fixing  up  our  rods,  fished  on  down  the 
river  until  we  overtook  him  half-mile  below  where  he  was 
left.  Our  entire  catch  was  forty  superb  trout,  of  which  the 
General  killed  much  the  larger  number.  It  was  a  cold  bluster- 
ing day,  blowing  at  times  almost  a  blizzard,  and  taking  my 
new  hat  off  into  the  river  and  almost  taking  the  head  after  it. 
Retired  hoping  for  better  weather  and  better  luck  on  the 
morrow,  a  hope  doomed  to  disappointment  as  the  ground  was 
covered  with  snow  and  the  mercury  down  to  freezing  point. 
Owing  to  that  fact,  it  was  decided  to  start  back.  On  arriving 
at  the  tent  of  two  days  before,  found  some  twenty  tourists 
waiting  to  go  further  inwards,  a  few  like  ourselves,  however, 
returning.  On  reaching  the  Mammoth  Springs  Hotel,  at  the 
entrance  to  the  park,  it  was  decided  to  keep  on  farther  to  the 
railroad  depot  and  catch  the  train,  which  we  did  at  7  :00  p.  m. 

June  8th,  made  some  seven  hundred  miles  passing  through 
the  bad  lands  of  Montana,  the  most  desolate  and  God-forsaken 
country  that  mortal  eyes  ever  rested  upon,  composed  of  high 
hills  on  every  side  without  the  vestige  of  vegetation  and 
almost  void  of  animal  life,  but  the  most  grotesque  and  pic- 
turesque shapes,  Later  on  passed  Bismarck,  Helena,  and 
other  mining  places,  having  entered  a  more  inviting  section 
of  the  country.  Senator  McPherson  left  us  last  night  at  Liv- 
ingston, and  returned  to  Washington,  leaving  us  to  continue 
the  journey  westward. 

June  9th,  Sunday:  Traveled  all  day  through  a  mountain- 

[207  J 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

ous,  picturesque  country,  but  without  material  incident.  In 
the  afternoon  had  a  long  visit  from  General  Kautz,  an  old 
West  Point  acquaintance  of  mine  and  an  old  adversary  of 
General  Hampton.  Passed  Lake  Pend  d'Oreille,  the  most 
beautiful  sheet  of  water  that  I  ever  saw,  and  also  had  Mount 
Hood,  Mount  Tacoma,  and  other  famous  peaks  in  view,  all 
covered  with  snow.  Arrived  at  Portland  at  7  :00  p.  m.,  and 
moved  from  our  car  up  to  the  Portland  hotel  and  set  about 
seeing  the  city,  a  very  pretty  one  of  some  hundred  thousand 
inhabitants.  Went  up  on  the  heights  overlooking  the  town 
by  cable-car  at  the  heaviest  gradient  ever  yet  achieved.  The 
view  from  the  top  was  superb  in  the  extreme  with  the  famous 
mountains,  already  named,  in  the  background.  The  General 
had  numerous  callers,  and  after  they  had  left  he  and  I  sat 
up  and  talked  until  bed  time.  Gave  up  our  old  car  and  had 
another  assigned  to  us  for  to-morrow. 

June  11th:  Started  at  7  :00  a.  m.,  and  ran  down  to  Oregon 
City,  a  manufacturing  place  of  about  five  thousand  having 
the  famous  falls  of  the  Williamette  River  just  above,  a  min- 
iature Niagara,  fully  as  wide  and  one-third  as  high.  Here 
we  were  side-tracked  and  took  boat  for  the  falls  to  try  the 
salmon,  for  which  the  were  famous.  Had  no  luck  in  the 
morning  although  saw  hundreds  of  big  ones  trying  to  jump 
the  falls,  the  river  being  a  perfect  torrent.  Went  back  to  the 
car  and  lunched,  and  I  took  a  stroll  on  the  plain  above,  a  pre- 
cipitous bluff  reached  by  long  flights  of  stairs  two  or  three 
hundred  feet  high.  On  the  summit,  a  level  tableland,  is  a 
lovely  village  full  of  fruits,  flowers  and  vegetables.  On  de- 
scending, went  back  to  the  falls  where  I  had  a  strike  that 
took  out  nearly  fifty  yards  of  my  line  and  burned  thumb  and 
fingers  sharply.  After  playing  him  two  hours  and  his  carry- 
ing the  boat  over  a  mile,  the  General  succeeded  in  gaffing 
and  getting  him  aboard,  berating  me  in  the  meanwhile  for  not 

[208] 


APPENDIX. 

killing  him  sooner  so  that  we  could  go  back  and  catch  a  bigger 
one.  He  weighed  fifteen  pounds,  and  was  the  ganiest  fish 
that  I  have  ever  tackled.  Passed  a  quiet  evening  on  the  car 
after  a  julep  and  a  capital  dinner. 

June  12th:  Colonel  W.  G.  Curtis,  General  Manager  of 
Southern  Pacific  R.  R.,  and  wife  arrived  with  his  special 
car  from  San  Francisco  to  meet  and  take  us  back  with  them 
later  in  the  day.  Will  have  more  to  say  of  this  amiable 
couple.  The  General  took  breakfast  with  theui  and  then  went 
back  to  the  falls,  they  continuing  on  to  Portland,  twelve  miles 
further  on,  but  all  meeting  about  12  :00  m.,  the  General  with 
a  nineteen-and-a-half  pound  salmon.  Our  car  hitched  on  be- 
hind Colonel  Curtis's  special  engine,  and  his  car  to  ours,  and 
we  started  on  a  seven  hundred  and  fifty  mile  ride  to  San 
Francisco,  passing  through  an  extensive  and  beautiful  valley 
along  the  banks  of  the  Williamette.  It  was  hard  to  realize 
that  this  beautiful  and  well-developed  land  was  a  wild  region 
described  by  Captain  Bonneville  less  than  a  hundred  years 
before  on  his  famous  tour  of  exploration.  Stopped  over  in 
the  afternoon  and  fished  in  the  Umphpual  River.  While 
standing  on  the  saw  mill  above  saw  large  salmon  trying  every 
instant  to  jump  the  dam  just  below  us,  but  were  not  prepared 
for  them,  as  we  were  only  trouting.  Later  returned  to  our 
little  train,  had  an  elaborate  dinner  on  Mr.  Curtis's  car, 
played  euchre  until  bed  time,  and  then  retired.  The  follow- 
ing afternoon  moved  on  to  the  headwaters  of  the  Sacramento, 
a  kindred  stream,  and  tried  that  with  like  success.  Ran  back 
a  few  miles  to  Castle  Craig,  a  precipitous  rock,  said  to  be  a 
mile  and  a  quarter  high  without  the  slightest  sign  of  earth 
or  vegetation  on  it,  and  halted  for  the  night  on  the  cars. 
After  a  fine  dinner,  preluded  with  a  julep,  played  euchre 
until  bed  time  and  then  retired  for  a  good  night's  sleep,  with 
the  raging  river  just  beside  us  for  our  lullaby. 

14  [  209  ] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MOEE. 

June  14th.:  This  being  the  anniversary  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Curtis'  wedding  day,  it  was  voted  to  pass  it  where  we  then 
were,  than  which  a  more  picturesque  place  could  not  have 
been  found  within  the  borders,  nearby  the  lofty  rock  of  Castle 
Craig  and  Mount  Shasta,  one  of  the  highest  peaks  on  the  Con- 
tinent, seventeen  thousand,  five  hundred  feet  above  sea-level, 
and  covered  with  snow,  and  the  Sacramento  rushing  below 
in  a  perfect  torrent ;  while  on  the  other  side  of  the  road,  tow- 
ering above,  was  an  almost  perpendicular  bluff  over  a  thou- 
sand feet  high.  After  breakfast  Colonel  Curtis  and  I  walked 
over  to  the  Castle  Craig  Tavern,  half  a  mile  off  through  beau- 
tiful grounds  and  flower  gardens.  This  is  an  elegant  summer 
resort,  capable  of  accommodating  some  six  or  eight  hundred 
guests,  with  extensive  walks  and  drives. 

June  15th:  Followed  the  Sacramento  down  until  dark, 
stopping  to  fish  wherever  any  spot  looked  inviting  for  that 
purpose.  During  the  morning  came  to  a  bend  in  the  road  by 
which  four-and-a-half  miles  brought  the  train  back  to  within 
half  a  mile  of  the  starting  point  and  some  five  hundred  feet 
below,  at  a  famous  spring  much  like  the  Deep  Rock  water 
which  we  had  been  using  on  the  train.  There  was  an  at- 
tractive little  hotel  added  by  the  railroad,  and  an  exceedingly 
high  water  jet  natural,  from  the  mountains  above,  which  was 
made  to  play  for  our  edification.  Mrs.  Curtis  and  I  walked 
down  from  the  halting  place  above  by  a  narrow  path  through 
the  woods,  passing  numerous  large  springs  whose  flow  unites 
further  down,  forming  a  lovely  moss-covered  cascade  just  be- 
low the  spring.  Nature  did  her  level  best  to  make  this  an 
ideal  spot,  the  grounds  of  which  belong  to  the  railroad.  The 
river  runs  right  in  front  of  the  hotel.  Dined  and  fished  until 
sundown,  moving  on  along  the  stream  (Sacramento).  Then 
gave  up  our  engine  and  hitched  on  to  the  express  train  which 
came  along  for  San  Francisco. 

[210] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

June  16th,  Sunday:  Passed  through  one  of  the  most  fertile 
sections  of  country  on  the  globe — the  Sacramento  Valley — 
every  acre  of  which  seemed  teeming  with  luxuriant  ripe  wheat 
as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach.  This  continued  for  fully  three 
hundred  miles,  interspersed  here  and  there  with  orchards, 
small  fruits,  vegetable  gardens,  and  hundreds  of  miles  in  ex- 
tent, shade  trees  and  flowers.  Entered  San  Joaquin,  a  kin- 
dred valley,  at  right  angles,  lower  down.  About  5  :00  p.  m., 
reached  the  towrj  of  Oakland,  opposite  San  Francisco,  and 
leaving  our  cosy  accommodations  with  a  tinge  of  regret,  took 
an  immense  ferry-boat  and  passed  over  to  the  last-named 
place.  We  were  driven  up  to  the  Palace  Hotel  almost  without 
a  rival  as  a  city  hostelry,  and  assigned  to  elegant  apartments 
with  every  convenience.  The  next  day  Thomas  and  I  took 
the  electric  car  out  to  the  Cliff,  a  bold  eminence  looking  out 
on  the  Pacific.  Felt  something  of  a  Balboa's  exultation  on 
first  seeing  this  grandest  of  all  oceans ;  the  shores  were 
crowded  with  bathers,  and  the  rocks  with  seals.  Farther  on 
is  an  immense  bath-house,  fed  from  the  ocean  and  capable 
of  seating  twenty  thousand  lookers-on.  On  the  way  out  took 
a  hack  and  passed  an  hour  in  the  park,  nothing  to  boast  of 
except  in  its  flora,  unique  and  diversified.  Much  has  been 
done  in  developing  it  however,  as  it  was  but  a  succession  of 
barren  sand  hills  and  banks  only  a  short  while  ago.  Passed 
the  evening  quietly  with  General  Hampton,  who  was  com- 
plaining much  of  a  pain  in  his  shoulder  occasioned  by  an  old 
accident.  Met  his  medical  attendant  there,  Dr.  M.  Gardner, 
a  very  entertaining  man,  cousin  of  General  Gardner,  0.  S. 
A.,  the  Port  Hudson,  celebrity.  Some  of  the  gradients  on  the 
electric  and  cable  street  railway  are  fearful  to  ascend  and 
descend  until  used  to  them,  suggesting  angles  of  30,  and  even 
45  degrees.  Dined  with  Bill  Foote,  Captain  Brice,  of  the 
Navy,  Major  Schofield,  of  the  Army,  and  two  young  men, 

[211] 


AN   AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTUBY  AND  MOKE. 

the  sons  of  Claus  Spreckles,  the  sugar  king  of  the  Sandwich 
Islands.  After1  dinner  the  first  three  named  volunteered  to 
show  me  the  slums  of  Chinatown  under  the  escort  of  Colonel 
Crowley,  Chief  of  Police  of  the  city,  and  three  of  his  subor- 
dinates. Such  squalor,  filth  and  degradation,  it  is  impossible 
to  describe  or  even  to  conceive  of  as  we  saw  here  huddled  to- 
gether in  this  seething  hive  of  forty  thousand  Mongolians ; 
closets  ten  or  twelve  feet  square  furnished  sleeping  rooms 
for  as  many  human  beings,  if  such  wretches  can  be  so  called, 
and  frequently  two  and  three  stories  under  ground,  reached 
by  ladders,  and  not  ten  feet  in  dip.  And  yet  we  were  told 
by  the  other  two  gentlemen,  who  had  been  there  before,  that 
we  did  not  begin  to  see  the  worst  phases  of  it,  the  police  ser- 
geants fearing  to  let  the  chief  into  their  vilest  dens  and  secrets 
of  these  horrible  purlieus  lest  he  should  call  them  to  account 
for  being  cognizant  of  them.  Went  to  one  of  their  theatres 
and  sat  half  an  hour  on  the  stage,  not  the  slightest  elevation 
of  tone  or  change  of  facial  muscle  marked  either  of  the  actors 
during  the  performance.  Apparently  it  was  all  pure  hum- 
drum repetition. 

The  next  day  Mrs.  Curtis,  by  appointment,  took  me 
through  the  shopping  district,  and  better  part  generally  of 
Chinatown.  Bad  enough  this  even  under  a  noonday's  sun, 
but  what  a  contrast  for  the  better  to  last  night's  horrors. 
Cannot  blame  these  Pacific  coast  folks  for  insisting  on  keep- 
ing these  people  out.  They  may  excite  our  pity,  but  there  is 
contagion  in  their  touch.  Passed  the  rest  of  the  day  in  stroll- 
ing through  the  city  and  taking  in  the  sights.  Was  surprised 
to  see  so  little  shipping  of  the  better  sort  at  the  wharves.  At 
night  accepted  an  invitation  of  General  P.  M.  B.  Young, 
the  then  Minister  to  Guatemala,  to  accompany  him  and  two 
ladies  to  the  theatre,  where  he  had  secured  a  private  box; 
an  agreeable  party  and  a  most  interesting  comedy.     After 

[212] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

the  performance  we  all  took  a  light  supper  at  the  Palace  Hotel 
restaurant. 

June  21st:  Met  a  number  of  agreeable  acquaintances  and 
passed  a  very  pleasant  day.  Took  dinner  with  Judge  Foote 
in  company  with  General  Young  at  the  University  Club,  an 
enjoyable  affair.  By  the  way,  have  been  honored  with  invi- 
tations and  the  freedom  of  all  the  leading  clubs  of  the  city 
for  two  weeks.  After  dinner  General  Young  and  I  called  on 
Mrs.  Catherwood,  the  daughter  of  Chief  Justice  Hastings,  of 
California,  and  an  old  friend  of  my  father  in  the  early  days 
of  the  State,  and,  if  report  be  true,  a  million  heiress  many 
times  told.  She  was  certainly  a  highly  gifted  and  intellectual 
woman. 

June  22nd :  By  invitation  General  Hampton  and  I  passed 
the  day  at  Palo  Alto,  the  princely  home  of  Mrs.  Leland  Stan- 
ford and  about  two  miles  from  Meno  Station.  Our  car  was 
tacked  on  to  the  express  train  and  switched  off  at  Menlo, 
where  we  met  carriages  sent  for  us  and  likewise  for  Judge 
Field  and  family  of  the  United  States  Supreme  Court.  He 
failed  to  arrive,  but  his  sister-in-law,  Mrs.  Condit-Smith,  and 
daughter  did.  After  an  elegant  breakfast,  were  driven  out  to 
the  stables  containing  seven  hundred  superb  specimens  of 
horse-flesh,  for  one  of  which  the  late  owner  refused  $150,000, 
and  a  four-weeks  old  colt,  his  son,  was  now  under  considera- 
tion on  an  offer  of  $7,500.  The  finest  specimens  of  the 
stable  were  put  through  their  paces  for  our  inspection,  includ- 
ing the  kindergarten  or  juvenile  samples  of  the  lot.  They 
were  put  through  their  paces  with  the  precision  of  the  circus 
although  only  one  and  two  years  old.  From  there  drove  out 
to  the  Leland  Stanford  University,  the  noblest  monument 
ever  erected  by  man  to  commemorate  an  honored  relative, 
twenty  millions  of  dollars,  the  bequest  in  memory  of  his  son. 
Cecilia  Metella  is  here  far  outclassed  in  lavish  display.    Took 

[213] 


AN   AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

an  early  dinner  with  our  hospitable  entertainer,  and  then  took 
train  for  Monterey,  arriving  at  the  world-famed  Del  Monte 
at  6  :00  p.  m.,  where  elegant  apartments  were  awaiting  us. 
Taken  as  a  whole,  it  surpasses  all  of  the  caravansaries  that  I 
have  ever  seen,  and  that  imports  the  finest  on  two  continents. 
The  building  proper,  it  is  true,  does  not  come  up  to  the 
Ponce  de  Leon  and  its  surroundings,  but  the  grounds  were  an 
immense  flower  garden,  far  transcending  it  or  any  private 
or  ducal  home  that  I  ever  saw  in  Europe.  Our  being  the 
invited  guests  of  the  establishment,  with  best  quarters,  was 
not  calculated  to  lessen  appreciation.  After  breakfast  Colo- 
nel Curtis  and  myself  took  an  eighteen-mile  drive  around 
Monterey  Bay,  an  adjunct  of  the  hotel  and  most  pictur- 
esque one  it  is,  alternately  overlooking  the  ocean  with  the 
breakers  lashed  into  fury  at  our  feet,  and  then  branching  off 
into  primeval  tropical  forest.  Passed  through  the  old  town 
of  Monterey,  which  looks  as  if  it  had  not  undergone  the 
slightest  change  since  first  laid  off  and  turned  out  by  the  old 
Mission  Fathers.  The  first  legislature  of  California  was  held 
here  in  1849-50,  my  father  being  a  member  of  the  then  State 
Senate.  On  the  way  back  to  the  hotel  examined  the  famous 
salt-water  baths,  enclosing  perhaps  half  an  acre  in  space  and 
artificially  heated,  with  three  or  four  large  swimming  pools. 
After  strolling  through  the  grounds  and  enjoying  a  superb 
dinner,  took  train  for  Santa  Clara,  on  the  other  side  of  the 
bay,  where  our  car  was  side-tracked,  remaining  aboard  until 
Monday  morning  (to-morrow)  in  order  to  try  the  salmon  in 
the  bay,  now  in  full  season. 

June  24th:  Was  up  bright  and  early  and  soon  several 
miles  out  on  salt  water  from  the  shore,  the  sea  running  high. 
I  hooked  a  ten-foot  shark  and  brought  him  alongside,  but  he 
snapped  the  line  and  escaped.  It  should  have  been  premised 
that  while  there  we  were  the  guests  of  the  California  Fish 

[214] 


EECOLLECTIOXS  AXD  KEFEECTIONS. 

Commissionsioner.  We  had  boats,  tackle  and  boatmen,  placed 
at  our  service. 

June  25th:  Started  about  7:00  a.  ni.,  with  face  turned 
homeward,  much  to  my  satisfaction,  for  notwithstanding 
the  past  month  had  been  one  of  the  most  enjoyable  of  travels 
that  it  is  possible  to  imagine,  I  was  beginning  to  feel  most 
terribly  homesick.  Am  sure  I  was  not  cut  out  for  a  circum- 
navigator or  globe-trotter.  The  home  instinct  is  too  strong  in 
me.  Passed  over  to  Oakland,  enjoying  the  magnificent  bay 
and  splendid  view. 

The  return  trip  was  monotonous,  with  nothing  worth 
chronicling  excepting  the  immense  snow-sheds  miles  in  ex- 
tent, and  constructed  to  guard  against  snow  avalanches  which 
are  liable  to  crush  trains  in  their  downward  rush. 

At  Marshalltown,  Iowa,  had  a  brief  interview  with  my 
wife's  sister,  Mrs.  Heitshu,  living  in  that  place,  who  came 
down  with  her  husband  and  son  to  insist  upon  my  stopping 
over  and  paying  them  a  visit,  which  had  to  be  disregarded 
owing  to  the  strong  home-impulse  which  had  taken  possession 
of  me.  On  reaching  Chicago,  was  brought  in  contact  with 
the  author  of  a  book  that  I  had  been  reading  on  the  way, 
which  was  then  creating  a  sensation  throughout  the  country, 
termed  "Coin;"  found  him  an  exceedingly  interesting  and 
well  informed  man. 

After  reaching  home,  passed  the  next  few  weeks  in  a  hum- 
drum, monotonous  sort  of  life,  mainly  spent  in  the  library  and 
in  reminiscence. 

Two  years  later  my  daughter  (Sarah)  and  son-in-law,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Pembroke  Jones,  having  gone  off  to  Europe  on  one 
of  their  periodical  jaunts,  insisted  upon  our  going  down  to 
their  country-place,  near  Wilmington,  known  as  "Airlie,"  and 
passing  the  summer  by  the  sea.  This  was  done  with  the  addi- 
tional incentive  that  General  Hampton  agreed  to  join  us  there 

[215] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

and  pass  it  with  us,  and  with,  the  further  inducement  that  my 
youngest  daughter,  Mabel,  lately  married,  was  living  near 
by  with  her  husband's  parents,  Colonel  and  Mrs.  Warren 
Elliott. 

My  health  beginning  to  fail,  a  little  later  on,  we  determined 
to  pass  the  summer  at  Lincoln  Lithia  Springs,  near  Lincoln- 
ton,  North  Carolina,  with  General  Hoke  and  his  agreeable 
family,  and  this  brings  a  dull  story  to  near  an  end,  the  sub- 
sequent time  having  been  spent  on  our  home  place  ' Tokay' 
with  my  wife  and  second  daughter,  Carrie,  who  has  never 
married. 

Frequent  visits  from  agreeable  frieuds  have  served  to  while 
away  the  tedium  of  country  life,  if  tedium  could  be  associated 
with  such.  Odd  half -hours  of  the  time  have  been  devoted  to 
putting  my  lucubrations  on  paper  with  the  view  of  having 
them  consigned  to  printer's  ink.  Many  of  these  have  been 
preserved  in  huge  scrap-books  by  my  devoted  wife,  some  of 
which  will  be  given  by  way  of  appendix  in  the  present 
volume. 

A  projected  visit  in  the  recent  past  was  from  four  of  my 
old  West  Point  classmates,  namely,  Generals  G.  W.  C.  Lee, 
Stephen  D.  Lee,  O.  O.  Howard,  and  Henry  L.  Abbott,  whose 
average  age  had  passed  the  three  score  and  fifteen  mark,  and 
whose  rank,  age  and  historical  record  are  remarkable.  Cir- 
cumstances precluded  the  coming  of  all  save  General  Abbott, 
who  passed  a  couple  of  days  under  my  roof  in  most  interesting 
converse  of  our  school  boy  days. 

And  such  is  my  little  life's  story  as  recalled,  one  full  of 
petty  vicissitudes  and  much  to  be  thankful  for.  The  world 
has  been  most  kind  and  indulgent,  to  me,  overlooking  my 
fnults  and  shortcomings.  The  general  tenor  of  my  life  has 
been  to  reciprocate  in  kind,  and  has  been  comparatively  free 
from  bathos,  hypocrisy,  affectation  and  duplicity,  though  I 

[216] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

say  it  myself.  If  in  its  course  I  have  ever  wantonly  injured 
any  man,  it  is  with  deep  regret  that  I  recall  it. 

I  have  been  unusually  blessed  with  two  loving  and  consid- 
erate helpmates,  and  with  amiable  and  devoted  children  and 
grand-children,  the  comfort  and  solace  of  declining  age. 
Never  having  been  of  a  grasping  mind,  I  have  had  a  modest 
sufficiency  of  this  world's  gear. 

My  self-imposed  task,  begun  in  whim  or  caprice  on  the 
dawning  day  of  a  new  bom  century,  over  six  and  a  half  years 
ago,  and  resumed  at  spasmodic  intervals  of  months,  and  even 
years,  is  done,  and  let  me  hope  that  it  will  prove  more  satis- 
factory to  a  few  valued  readers,  than  it  does  to  the  writer. 
Fate,  good  fortune  or  blind  circumstance  brought  me  in  con- 
tact, if  not  friendship,  with  many  of  the  historical  characters 
of  a  most  historic  epoch,  for  which  I  am  duly  thankful,  and 
to  lay  my  little  sjDrig  of  immortelle  upon  the  biers  of  such,  was 
the  actuating  impulse  of  this  impotent  undertaking.  Charla- 
tans and  pretenders,  who  have  attained  ephemeral  notoriety 
have  likewise  fallen  within  the  range  of  vision  and  been 
scored  or  ignored,  according  to  the  prominence  of  assinine 
claim  and  assumption. 

My  nature  has  ever  been  a  mosaic  or  composite  of  oppo- 
sites.  The  amiable,  counterbalanced  by  the  assertive,  the 
conciliatory  by  the  combative,  unswerving  faith  in  the  teach- 
ing and  dicta  of  the  infallible  Master  with  lax  conformity  to 
the  precept.  Per  contra  and  as  partial  offset,  I  have  never 
designedly  injured  my  fellowman,  but  tried  to  do  him  an 
occasional  service  in  a  quiet,  simple  way.  The  post-bellum 
millenium,  so  discernible  to  the  eyes  of  others,  has  never 
reached  my  optics.  For  forty  years  the  day  has  never  dawned 
on  which  my  preference  could  be  given,  'rin  foro  cons- 
cientiae"  for  the  new  order  of  things  over  those  of  early 
remembered   days;    for   fortune    surpassing   conception    over 

[217] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

those  of  handgrasp  measure,  with  attendant  substitution  of 
vulgarity  for  gentility,  of  concentration  for  diffusion,  of  ar- 
rogance for  civility.  JSTo,  I  am  not  sufficiently  complacent 
yet,  to  sing  paeans  to  so-called  prosperity,  which  is  loathed, 
despised,  detested  and  accursed,  over  the  finest  civilization 
that  the  world  has  ever  known,  or  can  ever  know.  Let  that 
patriotic  assumption  be  devolved  on  those  more  ambitious  to 
wear  it.  For  one  it  is  not  prerogative  of  mine,  nor  is  it 
craved.  If  I  know  myself,  there  never  was  a  drop  of  hypoc- 
ricy,  duplicity  or  double  dealing  in  the  blood  of  my  mother's 
son.  !Not  that  any  claim  is  made  to  apotheosis  after  death  on 
that  score.  It  is  simply  an  innate  preference  for  the  cotton 
field  over  the  cotton  mill  and  its  concomitants:  for  a  simple 
and  natural  order  of  things  over  a  gigantic  artificial,  which 
with  its  varied  appliances  for  absorption  and  concentration, 
has  according  to  high  statistical  authority,  placed  it  within 
the  power  of  three  and  thirty  thousand  individuals,  within 
three  and  forty  years  to  amass  over  one-half  of  the  aggregate 
wealth  of  the  entire  republic  numbering  fully  three  and 
eighty  millions  of  inhabitants.  To  my  pessimistic  forecast, 
granting  the  correctness  of  Mr.  Sherman's  figures,  even  in 
the  proximate,  the  fate  of  the  great  modern  republic  is  as 
infallibly  sealed  as  was  that  of  the  great  ancient,  when  six 
hundred  plutocratic  nabobs  came  to  own  Rome,  which  meant 
to  all  intents  the  world.  How  can  patriotism  and  love  of 
country,  without  which  free  states  are  but  as  eggshells,  sur- 
vive for  long  such  an  abnormal  condition  of  affairs  ?  When 
it  supervenes,  a  thousand  Catos  and  Bruti  cannot  long  post- 
pone the  inevitable  fall.  More  appalling  this  than  all  of  the 
other  dangers  combined,  colonization  included,  that  can  un- 
dermine free  states  by  covert  assault ;  the  condition  that  faces 
us :  "where  wealth  accumulates,  and  men  decay,"  with  such 
unprecedented  rapidity  is  the  sure  precursor  of  the  impend- 

[218] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

ing  downfall.     Let  Sir  William  Jones  speak  his  grand  apos- 
trophe :  "What  constitutes  a  state  V 

Not  high-raised  battlement  or  labored  mound, 

Thick  wall  or  moated  gate: 
Not  cities  proud,  with  spires  and  turrets  crowned; 

Not  bays  or  broad,  armed  ports, 
Where,  laughing  at  the  storm,  rich  navies  ride; 

Not  starred  and  spangled  courts, 
Where  low-browed  baseness  wafts  perfume  to  pride. 

No:   men,  high-minded  men, 
With  powers  as  far  above  dull  brutes  endued, 

In  forest,  brake,  or  den, 
As  brutes  excel  cold  rocks  and  brambles  rude: 

Men  who  their  duties  know, 
But  know  their  rights,  and  knowing,  dare  maintain. 

Prevent  the  long-aimed  blow, 
And  crush  the  tyrant;  while  they  rend  the  chain; 

These  constitute  a  state. 

Yes,  it  is  the  facility  of  acquisition  and  the  facility  of  di- 
vorce that  has  sapped  so-called  society,  made  it  a  stench  in  the 
nostrils  of  the  better  sort,  and  forced  them  to  despair  of  the 
fate  of  the  Republic,  as  God  help  me,  I  cannot  help  doing. 
Who  can  help  being  pessimistic  ?  The  few  millionaires  of  that 
day  being  reckoned  by  the  thousands,  or  tens  of  thousands 
of  the  multi-kind  sort  in  this.  Old  Cornelius,  usually  known 
as  Commodore,  was  one  of  the  three  or  four  of  the  first  kind, 
who  were  reputed  to  be  the  possessors  of  two,  or  three  or  four 
millions  each  on  the  broad  American  continent,  as  the  follow- 
ing incident  will  go  to  show.  He  and  my  father  were  friends 
and  cronies  during  the  latter  years  of  their  lives.  One  evening 
on  going  to  an  entertainment  in  Washington  with  the  two, 
and  Mrs.  Cross,  the  daughter  of  the  first,  General  Green 
remarked,  "My  son,  here  is  the  luckiest  man  in  the  world ;  the 
father  of  about  a  dozen  grown  children,  and  able  to  leave 
each  one  of  them  a  million  of  dollars."  To  which  came  the 

[219] 


AN  AUTO  OF  HALF  A  CENTURY  AND  MORE. 

reply,  "Not  so,  nor  the  half  of  it."  At  the  time  of  his  death, 
it  was  generally  supposed  that  the  head  of  that  Medicean 
house  could  have  bequeathed  each  one  of  a  dozen,  a  half-a- 
dozen  millions,  and  left  them  all  far  removed  from  penury, 
or  the  residuary  legatee  either.  The  incident  is  simply  men- 
tioned to  illustrate  the  ease  of  acquisition  under  our  paternal 
idea  of  protection,  when  once  the  foundation  is  laid  by  a  man 
of  sense  and  long  outreach.  Heaven  help  the  herd,  the  special 
breed  is  getting  to  be  a  fraction  a  little  over-prolific.  Whence 
that  reverberant  call  for  fodder  just  ahead  ? 

Another  little  incident  pertinent  to  the  same,  and  notwith- 
standing his  countless  and  constantly  increasing  millions, 
professing  contempt  for  superfluous  wealth.  One  afternoon 
at  Saratoga,  Commodore  Vanderbilt  invited  me  to  take  a 
drive  with  Mrs.  Vanderbilt  and  himself  out  to  "the  lake"  and 
on  the  road  remarked  in  his  brusque,  off-hand  way:  "Before 
you  fellows  down  south  played  the  fool,  and  tried  to  kick 
out  of  harness,  you  ought  to  have  been  the  happiest  and  most 
contented  people  in  the  world."  "And  so  we  were,  Com- 
modore," came  the  reply,  "until  you  fellows  up  north,  re- 
solved to  kick  us  out."  "And  do  you  really  think,"  my  young 
friend,  "that  we  are  to  blame  for  that  needless  shedding  of 
blood  ?"  "If  I  did  not,"  was  the  reply,  "conscience  would 
never  cease  to  reproach  me  for  having  shouldered  a  musket 
in  support  of  what  was  professed,  an  undying  regret  at 
having  to  lay  it  down  before  the  dream  was  dreamt  out." 
"Yes,"  he  continued,  "you  lived  in  peace,  plenty,  and  con- 
tent, like  rational  folks,  and  as  your  fathers  did  before  you, 
without  breaking  your  necks,  like  a  pack  of  idiots,  by  striving 
to  double  needless  possession."  Here  was  a  high  compliment, 
and  a  sad  commentary  in  juxtaposition,  over  the  impending 
and  inevitable  doom  of  Free  Government,  through  aggrega- 
tion and  concentration  of  hoard,  by  him  whose  sum  total  of 

[  220  ] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

accumulation  to-day  for  his  house,  less  than  a  generation 
after  he,  the  old  ferryman  across  to  Staten  Island,  had  paid 
his  obolus  to  a  predecessor  in  the  trade,  Charon  hy  name,  who 
has  pulled  the  oars  from  the  birth  of  time  across  a  murky 
stream  yclept,  THE  STYX,  and  will  continue  to  ply  them 
till  time  shall  be  no  more.  Which  of  the  two  amassed  most 
of  this  world's  dross,  the  man  of  Syndicates  or  he  of  the 
Oboli,  let  others  determine.  Socially  and  individually,  it's  a 
matter  of  little  consequence.  Politically  and  in  boundless  ag- 
gregation, it  imports,  as  said,  the  death-knell  of  free  govern- 
ment. Perhaps  both  long  since  reached  the  conclusion  of 
Israel's  wise  king,  and  another  who  shall  be  nameless,  VA]STI- 
TAS  VANITATTTM. 

For  a  few  other  data,  reliance  must  be  had  on  the  historian 
and  the  poet,  to  describe  a  few  of  the  surviving  monuments 
of  the  past.     Says  Byron  after  Bede: 

"While  stands  the  Coliseum,  Rome  shall  stand; 
When  falls  the  Coliseum,  Rome  shall  fall: 

And  when  Rome  falls — the  world. 

******  * 

Rome  and  her  ruin  past  redemption's  skill, 

The  world  the  same  wide  den — of  thieves,  or  what  ye  will. 

******* 

Simple,  erect,  severe,  austere,  sublime — 

Shrine  of  all  saints  and  temple  of  all  gods, 

From  Jove  to  Jesus — spared  and  blest  by  time; 

Looking  tranquility,  while  falls  or  nods 

Arch,  empire,  each  thing  round  thee,  and  man  plods 

His  way  through  thorns  to  askes — glorious  dome! 

Shalt  thou  not  last?     Time's  scythe  and  tyrant's  rods 

Shiver  upon  thee — sanctuary  and  home 

Of  art  and  piety — Pantheon!   pride  of  Rome." 

And  thus  says  the  stateliest  of  historians  to  one  of  the 
greatest  of  poets  over  the  grandest  of  antiquities. 


[221] 


APPENDIX. 

Having  been  all  my  life  long  a  scribbler  for  the  public 
prints,  I  venture  to  add  a  few  of  these  by  way  of  appendix. 

During  my  European  tour  I  was  a  pretty  regular  contribu- 
tor to  the  Boston  Herald  by  request  of  the  editor.  Most  of 
these  letters  have  passed  out  of  reach;  some  few,  however, 
have  been  preserved  and,  by  way  of  contrast  in  style  between 
the  boy  and  the  man,  are  here  inserted.  The  first  was  written 
from  Venice,  the  next  from  Rome,  the  third  from  Xaples, 
and  the  last  from  Thebes.  They  are  given,  as  said,  simply 
as  samples  of  early  style  and  impression,  and  are,  perhaps,  a 
little  fulsome  and  bombastic  on  that  account. 

Divers  articles  on  other  subjects  will  be  added  as  near  in 
categorical  order  as  it  is  possible 'to  recall.  The  views  ex- 
pressed may  be  crude,  but  are  positive,  for  my  nature  through 
life  has  been  a  strange  combination  of  the  amiable  and  the 
assertive,  and  every  utterance  ever  put  on  paper  is  the  natural 
expression  of  heartfelt  feeling. 


[223] 


APPENDIX. 

[Ex-President  Davis'  last  paper  of  a  public  nature,  written  from  a 
sick  bed  just  five  weeks  before  his  death.  The  occasion — The  Centen- 
nial Celebration  of  the  Ratification,  by  North  Carolina,  of  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States,  at  Fayetteville,  November  21st,  1889.] 

Beauvoir,  Miss.,  Oct.  30,  1889. 
Messrs.  Wharton  J.  Green,  J  as.  C.  McBae,  C.  W.  Broadfoot, 
Neill  W.  Bay,  W.  C.  McDuffie,  Committee: 

Gentlemen  : — Your  letter  inviting  me  to  attend  North 
Carolina's  Centennial,  to  be  held  at  Fayetteville,  on  the  21st 
of  November  next,  was  duly  received;  but  this  acknowledg- 
ment has  been  delayed  under  the  hope  that  an  improvement 
in  my  health  would  enable  me  to  be  present  as  invited.  As 
the  time  approaches,  I  find  that  cherished  hope  unrealized, 
and  that  I  must  regretfully  confess  my  inability  to  join  you 
in  the  commemorative  celebration. 

It  has  been  my  sincere  wish  to  meet  the  people  of  the  "Old 
North  State"  on  the  occasion  which  will  naturally  cause  them, 
with  just  pride,  to  trace  the  historic  river  of  their  years  to  its 
source  in  the  colony  of  Albemarle. 

All  along  that  river  stand  monuments  of  fidelity  to  the  un- 
alienable rights  of  the  people — even  when  an  infant  success- 
fully resisting  executive  usurpation  and  in  defence  of  the 
privileges  guaranteed  by  charter,  boldly  defying  Kings, 
Lords  and  Commons.  Always  self-reliant,  yet  not  vainly 
self-asserting,  she  provided  for  her  defence,  while  giving  ma- 
terial aid  to  her  neighbors,  as  she  regarded  all  the  British 
Colonies  of  America. 

Thus  she  sent  troops,  armed  and  equipped  for  service,  into 
both  Virginia  and  South  Carolina,  also  dispatched  a  ship 
from  the  port  of  Wilmington,  with  food  for  the  sufferers  in 
Boston,  after  the  closing  of  that  port  by  Great  Britain.  In 
her  declaration  that  the  cause  of  Boston  was  the  cause  of  all, 
there  was  not  only  the  assertion  of  a  community  of  rights 
and  a  purpose  to  defend  them,  but  self-abnegation  of  the  com- 
mercial advantages  which  would  probably  accrue  from  the 
closing  of  a  rival  port. 

Without  diminution  of  regard  for  the  great  and  good  men 
of  the  other  colonies,  I  have  been  led  to  special  veneration  for 

[224] 


t^i-^pC 


APPENDIX. 

the  men  of  North  Carolina,  as  the  first  to  distinctly  declare 
for  State  independence,  and  from  first  to  last  to  uphold  the 
right  of  a  people  to  govern  themselves. 

I  do  not  propose  to  discuss  the  vexed  question  of  the  Meck- 
lenburg resolutions _of  May,  1775,  which,  from  the  similarity 
of  expression  to  the  great  Declaration  of  Independence,  of 
July,  1776,  have  created  much  contention,  because  the  claim 
of  North  Carolina  rests  on  a  broader  foundation  than  the 
resolves  of  the  meeting  at  Mecklenburg,  which  deserve  to  be 
preserved  as  the  outburst  of  a  brave,  liberty-loving  people, 
on  receipt  of  news  of  the  combat  at  Concord,  between 
British  soldiers  and  citizens  of  Massachusetts.  The  broader 
foundations  referred  to  are  the  records  of  events  preceding 
and  succeediug  the  meeting  at  Mecklenburg,  and  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Provincial  Congress,  which  met  at  Hills- 
boro,  in  August,  1775.  Before  this  Congress  convened, 
North  Carolina,  in  disregard  of  opposition  by  the  Governor, 
had  sent  delegates  to  represent  her  in  the  General  Congress, 
to  be  held  in  Philadelphia,  and  had  denounced  the  attack 
upon  Boston,  and  had  appointed  committees  of  safety  with 
such  far-reaching  functions  as  belong  to  revolutionary  times 
only. 

The  famous  Stamp  Act  of  Parliament  was  openly  resisted 
by  men  of  highest  reputation,  a  vessel,  bringing  stamps,  was 
seized  and  the  commander  bound  not  to  permit  them  to  be 
landed.  These  things  were  done  in  open  day  by  men  who 
wore  no  disguise  and  shunned  no  question. 

Before  the  Congress  of  the  Province  had  assembled,  the 
last  royal  Governor  of  North  Carolina  had  fled  to  escape  from 
the  iudignation  of  a  people,  who  burdened  but  not  bent  by 
oppression,  had  resolved  to  live  or  die  as  freemen.  The  Con- 
gress at  Hillsboro  went  earnestly  to  work,  not  merely  to  de- 
clare independence,  but  to  provide  means  for  maintaining  it. 
The  Congress,  feeling  quite  equal  to  the  occasion,  proceeded 
to  make  laws  for  raising  and  organizing  troops,  for  supply- 
ing money,  and  to  meet  the  contingencies  of  a  blockade  of  her 
seaports,  offered  bounties  to  stimulate  the  production  of  ar- 
ticles most  needful  in  time  of  war.  On  the  12  th  of  April, 
1776,  the  Continental  Congress  being  then  in  session,  and 
15  [225] 


APPENDIX. 

with  much  diversity  of  opinion  as  to  the  proper  course  to  be 
pursued  under  this  condition  of  affairs,  the  North  Carolina 
Congress  resolved,  '"That  the  delegates  for  this  colony  in  the 
Continental  Congress  be  empowered  to  concur  with  the  dele- 
gates of  the  other  colonies  in  declaring  independence  and 
forming  foreign,  alliances,  reserving  to  this  colony  the  sole 
and  exclusive  right  of  forming  a  constitution  and  laws  for 
this  colony,  &c,  &c." 

This,  I  believe,  was  the  first  distinct  declaration  for  separa- 
tion from  Great  Britain  and  State  independence,  and  there 
is  much  besides  priority  to  evoke  admiration.  North  Caro- 
lina had,  by  many  acts  of  resistance  to  the  British  authori- 
ties, provoked  their  vengeance,  yet  she  dared  to  lead  in  de- 
fiance, but  no  danger,  however  dread,  in  the  event  of  her  iso- 
lation, could  make  her  accept  co-operation,  save  with  the 
reservation  of  supremacy  in  regard  to  her  own  constitution 
and  laws,  the  sacred  principle  of  community  independence 
and  government  founded  on  the  consent  of  the  governed. 
After  having  done  her  whole  duty  in  the  war  for  Independ- 
ence and  become  a  free,  sovereign  and  independent  State, 
she  entered  into  the  Confederation  with  these  rights  and 
powers  recognized  and  unabridged. 

When  experience  proved  the  articles  of  Confederation  to 
be  inadequate  to  the  needs  of  good  government,  she  agreed  to 
&  general  convention  for  their  amendment.  The  convention 
did  not  limit  its  labors  to  amendment  of  the  article,  but  pro- 
ceeded to  form  a  new  plan  of  government,  and  adhering  to 
the  cardinal  principle  that  governments  must  be  derived  from 
the  consent  of  the  governed,  submitted  the  new  plan  to  the 
people  of  the  several  States,  to  be  adopted  or  rejected  as  each 
by  and  for  itself  should  decide. 

It  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  articles  of  Confederation 
for  the  "United  States  of  America"  declared  that  "the  union 
shall  be  perpetual,"  and  that  no  alteration  should  be  made 
in  the  said  articles  unless  it  should  be  "confirmed  by  the  legis- 
latures of  every  State."  True  to  her  creed  of  State  sover- 
eignty, North  Carolina  recognized  the  power  of  such  States 
as  chose  to  do  so  to  withdraw  from  the  Union,  and  by  the 
same  token  her  own  unqualified  right  to  decide  whether  or  not 

[226  J 


APPENDIX. 

she  would  subscribe  to  the  proposed  compact  for  a  more  per- 
fect union,  and  in  which  it  is  to  be  observed  the  declaration 
for  perpetuity  was  omitted.  In  the  hard  school  of  experience 
she  had  learned  the  danger  to  popular  liberty  from  a  govern- 
ment which  could  claim  to  be  the  final  judge  of  its  own 
powers. 

She  had  fought  a  long  and  devastating  war  for  State  inde- 
pendence, and  was  not  willing  to  put  in  jeopardy  the  price- 
less jewel  she  had  gained.  After  careful  examination  it  was 
concluded  that  the  proposed  Constitution  did  not  sufficiently 
guard  against  usurpation  by  the  usual  resort  to  implication  of 
powers  not  expressly  granted,  and  declined  to  act  upon  the 
general  assurance  that  the  deficiency  would  soon  be  supplied 
by  the  needful  amendments. 

In  the  meantime  State  after  State  had  acceded  to  the  new 
Union,  until  the  requisite  number  had  been  obtained  for  the 
establishment  of  the  "Constitution  between  the  States  so  rati- 
fying the  same." 

With  characteristic  self-reliance,  North  Carolina  con- 
fronted the  prospect  of  isolation,  and  calmly  resolved,  if  so 
it  must  be,  to  stand  alone  rather  than  subject  to  hazard  her 
most  prized  possession,  Community  Independence. 

Confiding  in  the  security  offered  by  the  first  ten  Amend- 
ments to  the  Constitution,  especially  the  9th  and  10th  of  the 
series,  North  Carolina  voluntarily  acceded  to  the  new  Union. 
The  10th  Amendment  restricted  the  functions  of  the  Federal 
Government  to  the  exercise  of  the  powers  delegated  to  it  by 
the  States,  all  of  which  were  especially  stipulated. 

Beyond  that  limit  nothing  could  be  done  rightfully.  If 
covertly  done,  under  color  of  law,  or  by  reckless  usurpation 
of  an  extraneous  majority,  which,  feeling  power,  should  dis- 
regard right,  had  the  State  no  peaceful  remedy  ?  Could  she 
as  a  State  in  a  Confederation,  the  bed-rock  of  which  is  the 
consent  of  its  members,  be  bound  by  a  compact  which  others 
broke  to  her  injury  ?  Had  her  reserved  rights  no  other  than 
a  paper  barrier  to  protect  them  against  invasion? 

Surely  the  heroic  patriots  and  wise  statesmen  of  North 
Carolina,  by  their  sacrifices,  utterances  and  deeds,  have 
shown  what  their  answer  would  have  been  to  these  questions, 

[2271 


APPENDIX. 

if  they  had  been  asked,  on  the  day  when  in  convention  they 
ratified  the  amended  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  Her 
exceptional  delay  in  ratification  marks  her  vigilant  care  for 
rights  she  had  so  early  asserted  and  so  steadily  maintained. 

Of  her  it  may  be  said,  as  it  was  of  Sir  Walter  Scott  in  his 
youth  that  he  was  "always  the  first  in  a  row  and  the  last  out 
of  it."  In  the  peaceful  repose  which  followed  the  Revolution 
all  her  interests  were  progressive. 

Farms,  school-houses  and  towns  rose  over  a  subdued  wilder- 
ness, and  with  a  mother's  joy  she  saw  her  sons  distinguished 
in  the  public  service,  by  intelligence,  energy  and  persever- 
ance, and  by  the  integrity  without  which  all  other  gifts  are 
but  as  tinsel.  North  Carolina  grew  apace  in  all  which  consti- 
tutes power,  until  1812,  when  she  was  required  as  a  State  of 
the  Union  to  resist  aggression  on  the  high  seas  in  the  visitation 
of  American  merchant  vessels  and  the  impressment  of  Ameri- 
can seamen  by  the  armed  cruisers  of  Great  Britain. 

These  seamen  generally  belonged  to  the  New  England 
States;  none  probably  were  North  Carolinians;  but  her  old 
spirit  was  vital  still ;  the  cause  of  one  was  the  cause  of  all, 
as  she  announced  when  Boston  was  under  embargo. 

At  every  roll-call  for  the  common  defense  she  answered, 
"Here."  When  blessed  peace  returned  she  stacked  her  arms 
for  which  she  had  had  no  prospective  use.  Her  love  for  her 
neighbors  had  been  tried  and  not  found  wanting  in  the  time 
of  their  need :  why  should  she  anticipate  hostility  from  them  ? 

The  envy,  selfish  jealousy  and  criminal  hate  of  a  Cain 
could  not  come  near  to  her  heart.  If  not  to  suspect  such  vice 
in  others  be  indiscreet  credulity,  it  is  a  knightly  virtue  and 
part  of  an  honest  nature.  In  many  years  of  military  and 
civil  service  it  has  been  my  good  fortune  to  know  the  sons 
of  North  Carolina  under  circumstances  of  trial,  and  could 
make  a  list  of  those  deserving  honorable  mention  which  would 
too  far  extend  this  letter,  already,  I  fear,  tediously  long. 

Devotion  to  principle,  self-reliance  and  inflexible  adher- 
ence to  resolution  when  adopted,  accompanied  by  conservative 
caution,  were  the  characteristics  displayed  by  ISTorth  Carolina 
in  both  her  colonial  and  State  history.  All  these  qualities 
were  exemplified  in  her  action  on  the  day  of  the  anniversary 

[228] 


APPENDIX. 

which  you  commemorate.  If  there  be  any  not  likely  to  be 
found  with  you,  but  possibly  elsewhere,  who  shall  ask:  "'How 
then  could  [North  Carolina  consistently  enact  her  ordinance 
of  secession  in  1861  ?"  he  is  referred  to  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  of  1776 ;  to  the  Articles  of  Confederation  of 
1777,  for  a  perpetual  union  of  the  States,  and  the  secession  of 
States  from  the  union  so  established ;  to  the  treaty  of  1783, 
recognizing  the  independence  of  the  States,  severally  and  dis- 
tinctively; to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  with  its 
first  ten  amendments;  to  the  time-honored  resolutions  of 
1798-99 ;  that  from  these,  one  and  all,  he  may  learn  that  the 
State,  having  won  her  independence  by  heavy  sacrifices,  had 
never  surrendered  it  nor  had  ever  attempted  to  delegate  the 
unalienable  rights  of  the  people.  How  valiantly  her  sons 
bore  themselves  in  the  War  between  the  States  the  list  of  the 
killed  and  wounded  testify.  She  gave  them  a  sacrificial  offer- 
ing on  the  altar  of  the  liberties  their  fathers  had  won  and  left 
as  an  inheritance  to  their  posterity.  Many  sleep  far  from  the 
land  of  their  nativity.  Peace  to  their  ashes.  Honor  to  their 
memorv  and  the  mother  who  bore  them. 

Faithfully, 

JEFFERSON  DAVIS." 


[229] 


APPENDIX. 

Hotel  de  la  Ville,  Venice,  October  14,  1858. 

Dear  Herald :  "The  Queen  of  the  Adriatic,"  and  "the  bride 
of  the  sea,"  has  been  mine  hostess  for  upwards  of  a  week. 
Venice,  proud  Venice,  magnifiq ue  of  other  days,  the  dignity  of 
whose  elective  chief  once  outshone  that  of  the  first  hereditary 
magnates  of  the  world,  and  whose  power  was  alike  feared  and 
respected  wherever  her  name  had  penetrated,  is  at  present  our 
abiding  place.  All  my  life  long  I  have  had  a  longing  desire 
to  see  the  city  of  the  doges,  the  commercial  republic  which 
rose  for  a  day,  like  a  brilliant  meteor,  to  sink  into  an  utter 
night  and  insignificance.  At  length  I  am  gratified.  In  front 
of  my  window  is  the  Grand  Canal,  in  sight  the  Rialto;  the 
house  in  which  I  lodge  was  the  palace  of  one  of  her  best  and 
wisest  chief  magistrates,  Loredano  by  name.  Yes,  I  stand  in 
the  midst  of  Venice  and  ponder  over  a  host  of  historical  recol- 
lections, of  which  she  was  the  stage.  My  reading  had  in- 
vested it  with  a  supernatural  charm  and  almost  induced  me  to 
believe  it  as  rather  the  conception  of  poets  and  romancers 
than  the  bona  fide  city  built  with  marble,  brick  and  mortar. 
In  perusing  the  thrilling  chapter  of  the  world's  history,  de- 
tailing her  splendor  and  magnificence,  her  victories,  mys- 
teries, and  crimes,  I  have  been  all  but  tempted  to  pronounce 
it  a  hoax,  and  the  very  existence  of  such  a  place  a  myth.  Her 
constitution,  more  wonderful  even  than  our  own,  inasmuch 
as  it  was  a  greater  deviation  from  all  precedent,  I  regarded 
it  as  the  cunningly  concocted  phantasma  of  some  political 
lunatic,  and  unhesitatingly  pronounced  the  "Giunta"  and  the 
"Ten,"  the  great  council  and  the  small,  the  doge  and  the  dun- 
geons, "canards"  of  undoubted  authenticity.  But  since  visit- 
ing this  extraordinary  place  and  seeing  with  my  own  eyes 
the  relics  of  the  state  of  things  implying  the  existence  of  the 
foregoing,  my  doubts  have  vanished  like  a  morning  mist  be- 
fore a  meridian  sun,  and  I  can  now  gulp  the  whole,  and  aye, 
even  more.  On  every  side  palaces  of  regal  magnificence  arise, 
the  abodes  in  days  of  "republican  simplicity"  of  the  patrician 
nobles  and  royal  merchants,  her  Foscaris  and  Morisinis,  Bas- 
aros,  and  Antonios  (the  last,  of  course,  by  poetical  license.) 

Today  "I  stood  upon  the  bridge  of  sighs"  and  dived  deep 
into  the  loathsome   dungeons    of   accursed    tyranny,    from 

f230] 


APPENDIX. 

which  it  leads.  Yesterday,  the  hill  where  sat  the  ''Council 
of  Ten"  (with  the  aperture  in  the  wall  through  which  were 
inserted  through  the  "Lion's  mouth"  those  infamous  anony- 
mous accusations  which  many  of  her  best  and  bravest  sons 
answered  with  their  heads),  the  Senate  Chamber,  the  apart- 
ments of  the  doge,  the  giants,  and  the  golden  staircases,  all 
submitted  to  our  scrutiny. 

The  first -named  room  interested  me  most,  as  being  that  in 
which  accustomed  to  assemble  that  dread  mysterious  tribunal 
(so  secret  in  its  operations  that  the  very  members  who  com- 
posed it  were  unknown  to  the  outside  world),  instituted  as 
a  curb  upon  overweening  ambition,  a  check  upon  "those 
haught  traitors  who  would  by  treason  mount  to  tyranny,  but 
which,  in  course  of  time,  itself  merged  into  the  most  odious  of 
tyrannies,  the  most  heartless  of  despotisms ;  thus  conclusively 
demonstrating,  as  did  the  "Thirty  of  Athens"  and  French 
"assemblee  nationale"  of  '91  and  '92,  that  tyranny  exists 
irrespective  of  the  form  of  government — in  republics  as  in 
monarchies,  in  parliaments  as  in  individuals. 

Aye !  power  is  indeed  a  dangerous  thing  by  whomsoever 
wielded.  When  tolerated,  it  is  ever  used ;  when  used,  al- 
most invariably  abused.  Ought  not  we  then  of  Constitutional 
America  be  pardoned,  nay  more,  applauded,  for  our  provei*- 
bial  jealousy  of  strong  government  to  the  extent,  in  fact, 
of  denying  or  canvassing  those  powers  in  our  representatives 
absolutely  essential  to  the  ends  of  government  ?  In  my  opin- 
ion, where  that  jealousy  ceases,  tyranny  begins ;  when  it 
ceases,  it  ought  to  begin.  For  reflection  teaches  that  there 
is  a  natural  proneness  in  the  human  mind  to  usurp  all  powers 
granted,  and  where  naught  is  granted,  not  guaranteed  by  fun- 
damental law,  the  people  are  untrue  to  themselves  and  unde- 
serving the  boon  of  freedom.  Such  concessions  constitute 
dangerous  precedents  which,  like  the  Grecian  horse  let  in, 
may  open  the  gates  to  others.  Therefore,  I  would  say,  let  out 
motto  be  "States  rights  and  strict  construction,  now  and  for- 
ever," and  to  that  standard  will  I  pin  my  faith  and  resolve 
that  stand  or  fall,  sink  or  swim,  survive  or  perish,  I'll  know  r  i 
other  political  creed.  Let  no  silvery-tongned  political  Jesuit 
persuade  us  to  adopt  that  vile  heresy  that  the  "ends  justify  the 

[331] 


APPENDIX. 


means/'  and  the  attainment  of  a  great  good  justify  a  slight 
dereliction  from  the  strict  letter  of  the  law.  That  belief  has 
in  all  ages  proved  the  very  best  pavior  to  anarchy  and  des- 
potism, or,  to  use  a  more  strong  and  emphatic  figure,  the 
most  efficacious  battering-ram  against  paper  bulwarks  and 
constitutional  barriers.  Let  us  repudiate  it  and  its  counsel- 
lors as  we  would  a  summons  to  commit  parricide. 

I  know  of  no  subject  so  fraught  with  serious  reflection  as 
the  birth  and  death  of  states,  and  will,  therefore,  presume  a 
moment  further  upon  your  time  in  pursuing  it.  To  what 
owed  the  defunct  republic  of  Venice  its  rise  ?  Any  schoolboy 
can  answer.  Commerce  was  her  tributary  and  slave  of  the 
lamp.  She  made  it  her  pet  paramount  for  a  couple  of  cen- 
turies, and  then  without  seeming  to  withdraw  her  support 
permitted  it  to  pine,  wither,  and  die. 

There  is  material  for  the  historian  in  the  decadence  of 
Venice,  and  a  future  Gibbon  would  not  be  unprofitably  em- 
ployed in  tracing  its  origin,  progress,  and  finale.  Such  a 
story  would  apply  to  Genoa  as  to  Venice;  to  Florence  as  to 
Genoa ;  to  all  of  the  Italian  medseval  republics  as  to  either. 
It  is  the  old  story  of  the  decline  of  men  and  the  sub- 
sequent decline  of  states.  In  my  humble  judgment,  it  was 
not  the  loss  of  her  Indian  trade,  as  most  supposed,  which 
sent  her  toppling  from  her  giddy  height  like  a  drunken  giant. 
The  loss  of  that,  which  has  proved  the  making  of  every  state 
that  ever  possessed  it,  was  the  consequence,  not  the  cause,  of 
her  declension.  The  possession  of  it,  in  her  case,  was  a 
doubtful  good. 

It  was  Bacon,  I  believe,  who  said  that  "In  the  infancy  of 
states  arms  flourish,  then  commerce,  then  art,  then  the 
three."  Venice  is  an  exemplification  of  this  truism.  Like  an 
unbidden  guest,  she  made  her  entree  unannounced  into  the 
council  of  nations,  so  sudden  was  her  coming.  In  her  begin- 
nings, as  in  those  of  most  other  great  empires,  arms  were 
respected  and  the  knowledge  of  their  use  held  most  honorable. 
This  sentiment  called  into  existence  her  invincible  citizen 
soldiery,  her  Dandolos  and  Falieros,  her  Orsinis,  and  Pisanis, 
and  men  of  kindred  stamp,  who  held  the  proud  Moslem  in 
check,  and  their  country  in  esteem. 

[  232  ] 


APPENDIX. 


But  this  race  gave  place  to  another ;  the  soldiers  made  way 
for  the  merchants,  the  merchants  for  the  artists,  the  artists 
for  the  foplings,  and  her  ruin  was  complete.  Commerce  to 
which  she  owed  her  rise,  she  likewise  owed  her  fall.  Her 
good  turned  to  be  her  evil  genius,  her  comforter  her  curse. 
It  opened  the  channel  through  which  flowed  that  luxury  and 
voluptuousness  of  the  Orient  which  sapped  her  ancient  virtue 
and  blasted  her  quondam  greatness.  Yes !  That  luxury, 
which  has  proved  the  destruction  of  more  states  than  saltpetre 
and  all  the  engines  of  war  combined,  undoubtedly  subverted 
Venice.     May  not  other  republics  profit  by  the  warning  ? 

And  now,  having  devoted  so  much  space  to  a  disquisition  of 
the  Venice  of  other  days,  what  shall  we  say  of  the  Venice  of 
the  present?  Nothing;  for  the  simple  reason  that  nothing 
good  can  be  said  except  that  she  wears  well  the  yoke.  The 
same  black,  funeral-like  gondolas  and  rascally  gondoliers,  the 
same  narrow,  filthy  alleys  and  squalid  beggars ;  the  same 
horde  of  priestly  drones  and  hosts  of  Austrian  soldiers — all 
are  here  as  they  have  been  time  out  of  mind.  And  now,  adios, 
adios,  for  the  porter  is  at  the  door  and  we  are  off  for  Padna. 
From  Florence,  you  may,  perhaps  hear  from  me  again,  and 
receive  a  description  instead  of  a  disquisitional  letter.  In 
haste, 

Yours  truly, 


Naples,  February  13,  1859. 
Dear  Herald :  My  last  was  from  Rome,  postmarked  De- 
cember 25th,  and  in  spite  of  its  volume,  the  time  and  place, 
contained  little  in  the  way  of  general  news  and  gossip,  less  of 
stereotyped  recital  or  description,  and  nothing  of  interest.  Af- 
ter consigning  it  to  the  post,  regret  at  having  so  stultified  my- 
self induced  me  to  half  resolve  that  that  last  should  be  the  last 
— but  somehow  this  mania  scribendi  having  fastened  itself 
upon  me,  I  find  it  as  impossible  to  resist  its  impulse  as  it 
was  for  the  Cumaean  sibyl  of  old  (whose  den  by  the  side  of 
the  terrible  Avernus  is  distant  hence  but  an  hour's  ride) 
the  proclivity  to  prophesy.  So  make  up  your  mind  to  the  in- 
fliction of  another,  but  relieve  it  of  all  apprehension  that  my 

[233] 


APPENDIX. 

thoughts  and  reflections  will  again  take  the  tone  of  the  trans- 
cendental, or  seventh-Heaven  school,  as  embodied  in  my  last 
Fifty  leagues  intervene  between  this  and  the  Eternal  City, 
and  fifty  thousand  in  point  of  historical  interest. 

To-morrow  we  sail  for  Egypt,  and  as  time  and  tide  and 
ocean-steamers  wait  for  no  man,  I  must  now  to  the  task  vol- 
untarily assumed  without  more  of  prophecy  or  ado. 

On  the  10th  ultimo,  having  tarried  a  couple  of  months 
with  the  Pope,  we  turned  our  faces  southward,  and  with  a 
good  and  commodious  carriage  and  five  fat  horses  (the  last- 
mentioned  for  the  nonce,  as  ordinarily  the  bones  of  the 
"cavilli  vetturini"  may  be  guessed  with  as  near  precision  as 
the  pence  in  Paddy's  pocket)  were  soon  rolling  past  Saint 
John  Lateran  and  through  the  dreary  Campagna.  The  road, 
the  "Appia  nuova,"  which  soon  merges  into  the  original  "via 
Appia,"  was  unsurpassed,  the  day  serene,  the  scenery  lovely. 
Under  such  auspices  the  drive  of  course,  could  be  but  pleasant, 
especially  as  I  had  taken  the  precaution  to  dispense  with  pos- 
tillions, those  pests  of  the  Italian  highway,  in  comparison 
to  whom  Turpin  and  his  confreres  of  Hounslow  heath  were  a 
set  of  civil,  honest  gentlemen.  The  first  night  we  slept  at 
Veletri,  a  "city  built  on  a  hill,"  a  favorite  idea  of  the  Italians 
by  the  way,  and  one  of  the  few  worthy  of  commendation.  The 
second  day  descending  to  the  plain,  we  entered  the  once  much 
dreaded  "Pontine  marshes,"  dined  at  the  "foro  Appio"  or 
Three  Taverns,"  a  solitary  little  inn  where  Saint  Paul  met  the 
brethren  from  Rome,  as  recorded  in  the  28th  Chapter  of  Acts, 
and  slept  at  Terracina,  on  the  southern  limit,  and  on  the 
frontier  between  Rome  and  ISTaples.  On  the  third  day  we  had 
to  run  the  gauntlet  by  some  three  or  four  custom-houses,  that 
bugbear  smugglers  in  petticoats  all  the  world  over,  but  no- 
where so  needlessly  as  in  Germany  and  Italy,  for  the  custom 
officials  in  those  countries  are  proverbial  for  their  "itching 
palms,"  and  the  traveller  acquainted  with  this  amiable 
national  weakness  has  no  one  to  blame  but  himself  if  he  is 
subjected   to   the   annoyances   of    an   examination. 

In  Mola  di  Gaeta,  where  we  stopped  for  dinner,  many 
travelers  would  see  but  a  romantic  village  and  a  good  loca- 
tion. In  my  eye  it  possesses  an  intrinsic  attraction  far  be- 
yond   its   narrow   streets,  its    frowning   castle,    its   beautiful 

[234] 


APPENDIX. 


bay,  and  picturesque  background  of  hills.  It  is  the  last  rest- 
ing-place of  two  of  the  most  remarkable  men  of  their  respec- 
tive eras.  In  close  juxtaposition  repose  the  mortal  remains 
of  Marcus  Tullius  Cicero  and  the  Constable  Bourbon,  who 
appeared  at  wide  intervals  upon  this  world's  stage  and  with 
no  trait  in  common  save  the  "sacra  fames  auri,"  which  was 
the  moving  principle  of  both,  each  became  in  his  own  way 
a  prime  mover  on  its  chess  board.  The  bold  Bourbon  with 
scarcely  a  redeeming  virtue  as  a  set-off  against  a  host  of  vices, 
villainies  and  crimes,  with  the  exception  of  his  courage  and 
self-reliance,  yet  possessed  those  in  so  eminent  a  degree  that 
they  almost  atoned  for  the  absence  of  all  others.  He  was  the 
type  of  a  class  which  the  nature  of  the  times  called  into  ex- 
istence:  and  which,  happily  for  mankind  and  civilization, 
died  out  with  the  struggles  of  Guelph  and  Ghibeline.  With- 
out country  and  without  home,  discarding  friendship  and 
disdaining  enmity,  there  was  something  in  the  isolation  of 
the  Great  Company's  man  which  elicits  our  pity,  whilst  his 
reckless  bearing  and  indifference  to  consequences  involun- 
tarily extorts  our  admiration.  It  is  my  belief  that,  had  the 
life  of  Bourbon  been  spared,  Rome  had  likewise  been,  that 
dreadful  nine  months  of  pillage  which  supervened  that  event 
and  its  capture,  and  which  for  unheard  barbarities  threw  in 
the  background  all  the  stories  of  Goth,  Vandal,  and  Visigoth, 
which  she  had  learned  by  experience.  The  brave  are  never 
cruel;  the  world  never  beheld  such  a  paradox,  and  the  Con- 
stable was  superlatively  brave. 

On  the  fourth  day  we  dined  at  Capua,  a  modern  city  in  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  that  ancient  Capua  whose  blandish- 
ments proved  more  fatal  to  the  hopes  of  the  Carthagenian 
hero  than  Bow,  javelin,  or  catapult  of  the  Romans. 

It  is  needless  to  mention  scores  of  other  villages  and  towns 
through  which  our  journey  lay,  remarkable  for  nothing  save 
the  public  spirit  of  their  sons,  legions  of  whom  we  saw  play- 
ing the  gentleman  of  elegant  leisure  in  every  market-place  and 
public  square,  with  not  a  sufficiency  of  rags  on  their  backs 
to  cover  their  nakedness,  discussing  grave  questions  of  state, 
politics,  theology,  or  literature  perhaps,  and  certes  macaroni. 
In  all  these,  and  in  fact  in  all  from  Piedmont  to  Cape  Spar- 

L235] 


RECOLLECTIONS  AND  REFLECTIONS. 

tivento,  and  on  every  object  from  Saint  Peter's  to  a  plough- 
share, the  word  stagnation,  or  worse  still,  retrogression,  is  as 
indelibly  written  as  those  of  life,  progress  and  vitality  are 
with  us.  Everywhere  is  seen  the  want  of  that  glorious 
"middle-class,"  which  constitutes  the  pride  and  bulwark  of 
England,  and  than  which,  according  to  a  distinguished  Eng- 
lish author,  Bulwer,  none  other  is  known  in  America.  May 
the  day  be  far  distant  when  any  other  will  be !  When  our 
land  will  be  encumbered  by  those  incubi  of  energy,  a  privil- 
eged and  pampered  aristocracy  and  a  disfranchised  pauper 
million.  In  Italy,  as  I  have  remarked,  these  extremes  em- 
brace the  entire  population  to  the  exclusion  of  the  more  ma- 
terial mean.  It  is  the  peasant  and  the  prince,  the  last  the 
unii;,  che  first  the  million ;  and  as  long  as  it  is  so,  her  redemp- 
tion or  regeneration  is  a  chimera  by  whomsoever  attempted. 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  fourth  day  we  reached  Naples, 
where  we  have  been  ever  since  prosecuting  our  mission  of 
sight-seeing  and  luxuriating  in  a  climate,  perhaps,  the  most 
equable  under  the  sun.  Since  our  arrival  the  thermometer 
has  constantly  ranged  between  60  and  80  Fahrenheit.  Think 
of  that,  ye  denizens  of  an  iceberg  who,  during  the  same  inter- 
val, venture  your  noses  into  the  open  air  at  the  peril  of  frost- 
bite. 

After  becoming  settled,  a  trip  to  Pompeii  was  one  of  the 
first  excursions  that  attracted  us.  A  two-hours  drive  brought 
us  to  the  only  city  extant  which,  literally  speaking,  can  boast 
an  antiquity  of  two  thousand  years.  Entering  by  the  street 
of  the  tombs,  which  contains  many  elegant  mortuary  monu- 
ments, the  first  dwelling  which  arrests  the  attention  is  the 
so-called  house  of  Diomede,  one  of  the  most  sumptuously 
magnificent  which  has  yet  been  uncovered.  There  is  such  a 
similitude  in  all  of  the  houses  that  one  might  suppose  them 
to  have  been  designed  by  the  same  architect  and  after  the 
same  model. 

The  open  quadrangular  court,  surrounded  by  the  inner 
portico  of  the  house,  and  containing  a  fountain  in  the  center. 
is  the  same  in  all.  Fountains,  in  fact,  and  miniature  cascades 
seem  to  have  been  an  universal  hobby,  as  they  are  found  in 
every  patrician  house.     The  houses  are  invariably  low,  rarely 

[236] 


APPENDIX. 

exceeding  one  story,  and  in  no  instance,  I  believe,  more  than 
two.  This  might  be  for  the  double  purpose  of  avoiding  heat 
and  the  effect  of  earthquakes.  The  sleeping  apartments  are 
close  and  cramped,  according  to  our  notions  of  comfort,  and 
might  readily  be  mistaken  for  china  closets  of  the  present 
day. 

For  more  than  five  hours  we  pursued  our  investigations 
through  the  deserted  thoroughfares  of  this  once  populous  city, 
as  perfect  and  entire  in  all  external  respects  as  it  was  on  the 
ill-fated  morning  of  its  destruction,  1780  years  ago.  During 
this  entire  time  the  only  living  beings  that  we  encountered 
were  a  party  of  English  who,  like  ourselves,  were  intent  on 
studying  the  past  from  the  palpable  present;  with  the  ex- 
ception of  these  all  betokened  the  grave.  "JSfo  watch-dog's 
honest  bark,"  no  prattling  urchins  or  rumbling  wheels  or 
merry  bells  were  heard.  On  every  side  a  silence  and  desola- 
tion absolutely  appalling — graveyards  are  proverbially 
solemn  places.  In  my  younger  days  I  so  regarded  them,  but 
this  visit  to  Pompeii  has  dispelled  the  illusion  and  will, 
doubtless,  make  me  regard  a  nectropolis  henceforth  a  very 
pleasant  abiding  place.  Why  this  oppressive  sense  of  soli- 
tude ?  Simply  because  the  contrast  between  life  and  death 
is  nowhere  so  strongly  presented.  We  enter  a  noble  mansion, 
and  at  the  first  glance  mistake  it  for  the  abode  of  a  prince, 
"or  greater  still  a  Roman ;"  on  every  side  is  seen  the  evidence 
of  an  elegance  which  in  our  country  is  rarely  seen ;  mosaics 
and  marbles,  and  statues  and  frescoes  and  fountains,  and 
all  the  appliances  which  wealth  and  luxury  and  art  contribute 
to  beautify  and  adorn  this  mundane  existence.  But  look 
again,  and  lo !  the  illusion  has  passed  away,  and  we  stand  in 
a  tomb!  Another,  and  another,  is  entered  with  a  like  result. 
The  temples  are  closed,  where  burned  the  fires  of  the  "false 
gods,"  and  walked  in  immediately  the  priestly  impostors 
whose  duty  it  was  to  enslave  the  mind.  The  amphitheater, 
which  once  teemed  with  expectant  crowds  awaiting  with 
hushed  delight  the  revolting  spectacle  of  a  hand  to  hand  con- 
flict unto  the  death,  or  the  equally  disgusting  struggle  of  man 
and  beast,  is  emptied.  Old  Romans  once  occupied  those 
vacant  seats  and  lovely  women  (who  the  more  shrinking  and 

[S37] 


APPENDIX. 

timid,  the  more  dear  they  are  to  man)  were  reckoned  among 
the  spectators,  aye,  and  revelled  in  the  brutishness  of  the 
arena.  Where  are  they  now  ?  Gone !  many  thousands  over- 
whelmed by  one  common  ruin,  swept  as  by  an  avalanche  from 
the  face  of  the  earth,  and  if  fiction,  the  handmaid  of  history, 
is  to  be  credited,  in  the  self-same  hour  that  the  city  was 
emptied  to  fill  this  enclosure.  The  buried  cities  of  Pompeii, 
Stabiae  and  Herculaneum,  afford  parallel  to  the  "Cities  of 
the  Plain."  Like  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  they  have  passed 
away  by  the  action  of  an  agency  higher  than  man's,  but,  un- 
like them,  after  the  lapse  of  long,  long  years,  they  re-appear 
as  if  to  mock  the  mutations  of  time. 

It  may  not  generally  be  known  that,  though  excavations 
have  been  going  on  upwards  of  a  hundred  years,  not  one- 
fourth  of  the  city  has  yet  been  disentombed;  neither  have 
and  buildings  of  a  poorer  class  been  brought  to  light :  so  it  is 
an  open  question  whether  or  not  there  were  any  poor  in 
Pompeii,  or  if  so,  whether  they  were  not  shut  up  in  a  quarter 
by  themselves  like  the  Jews  in  Frankfort,  Prague,  and  other 
German  cities.  Most  of  the  articles  found  have  been  removed 
to  the  Museo  Borbonico,  and  that  at  Portici.  In  the  former 
we  saw  a  collection. 

Last  week  we  made  an  excursion  to  the  crater,  and  a.  tedi- 
ous one  it  proved.  We  proceeded  almost  as  far  as  the  hermit- 
age by  a  carriage,  when  our  further  progress  was  cut  off  by 
an  immense  field  of  burning  lava,  which  for  the  last  two 
weeks  had  overflowed  and  blocked  up  the  carriage  road. 

By  climbing  a  foot-path,  however,  half  an  hour's  walk 
brought  us  to  the  last  human  habitation  on  the  hill,  far  above 
the  surrounding  country  and  half-way  up  to  the  summit.  Here 
my  wife  and  her  maid  gave  out,  unable  to  proceed  further 
up  the  mountain ;  leaving  them  under  the  care  of  the  old 
priest,  who  inhabits  this  out-of-the-way  and  dangerous  spot, 
my  cousin  and  myself  resolved  to  persevere.  Having  omitted 
the  precaution  to  take  donkeys  at  Resina,  we  were  necessitated 
to  foot  it  to  a  spot  called  "Atrio  del  Cavalli,"  at  the  foot  of 
the  cone,  and  about  two  miles  further  on.  It  was  a  rough 
walk,  and  by  the  time  it  was  finished  we  were  pretty  thor- 
oughly fatigued.     On  reaching  the  place  alluded  to,  all  the 

[238] 


APPENDIX. 

chairs  by  which  the  ascent  is  usually  made  had  been  taken  by 
first  comers,  and  so,  dispensing  with  that  luxury,  we  had  to 
climb,  as  another  party  now  were  also  doing.  So  we  started, 
but  the  order  of  progression  was  slow  indeed,  two  paces  for- 
ward and  one  back,  owing  to  the  crumbling  nature  of  the 
soil,  which  is  entirely  volcanic,  composed  of  ashes,  black  sand, 
tufa,  and  small  lumps  of  lava.  Frequently  it  was  necessary 
to  pull  up  by  straps  fastened  around  the  waists  of  the  guides, 
whilst  we  were  pushed  up  by  others.  After  struggling  on 
thus  for  upwards  of  an  hour,  and  finding  it  absolutely  indis- 
pensable to  rest  every  five  or  ten  minutes,  we  finally  attained 
the  summit.  On  every  side  was  ruin  and  desolation  as  forbid- 
ding and  repulsive  as  chaos  itself. 

All  around  lay  spread  immense  masses  of  volcanic  matter, 
accumulation  of  thousands  of  years.  Among  these  could  be 
traced  almost  every  color  and  shade  of  color.  Here  and  there 
little  tongues  of  flames  were  discernible  through  the  crevices, 
giving  evidence  that  the  mountain  on  which  we  were  standing 
was  pregnant  with  a  force  as  potential  for  mischief  as  the 
black  sand  in  the  magazine,  composed  of  carbon  and  saltpetre. 
The  thought  crossed  me,  what  if  the  match  should  be  applied ! 
and  my  insignificance  came  full  to  me.  I  felt  that  the 
chances  were  a  thousand  to  one  that,  in  that  event,  I  would 
not  be  so  fortunate  as  the  aspiring  Empedocles,  whose  old  boot 
robbed  him  of  the  immortality  he  craved. 

Scrambling  over  the  intervening  space,  about  two  hundred 
yards,  and  we  stood  at  the  mouth  of  that  mysterious  aper- 
ture from  which  were  issuing  huge  volumes  of  smoke  and 
steam.  Producing  a  black  flask,  we  drank  to  "the  old  folks 
at  home,"  and  then  consigned  it  to  the  apparently  bottom- 
less pit  in  order  that  it  might  never  know  a  meaner  toast.  If 
the  ascent  was  up-hill  work,  the  descent  was  easy  enough  in 
all  conscience.  All  the  exertion  requisite  was  to  let  yourself 
loose  at  the  top  and  pick  yourself  up  at  the  bottom.  But  seri- 
ously, it  is  accomplished  almost  without  any  act  of  volition  on 
the  part  of  the  pilgrim.  Query :  If  Virgil  had  not  this  in  his 
mind  when  he  penned  "descensus  facilis  averni."  On  return 
to  the  hermitage  night  had  already  set  in,  now  the  ocean  of 
burning  lava  which,  under  the  glare  of  a  noonday  sun  was 

[2391 


APPENDIX. 


hardly  perceptible,  was  lit  up  with,  a  brilliancy  rivalling  a 
burning  village  and  producing  a  grandeur  rarely  excelled,  if, 
indeed,  ever  equaled.  Altogether  it  looked  decidedly  in- 
fernal, prepared  as  the  mind  was  by  an  insight  into  the  crater 
to  receive  such  impressions.  And  the  effect  was  further 
heightened  by  a  number  of  wild  and  weird  looking  fellows 
who  were  engaged  in  running  the  molten  mass  into  salt-cel- 
lars, medals,  and  other  small  articles. 

I  had  intended  in  this  sheet  to  furnish  a  brief  description 
of  the  principal  objects  of  interest,  not  only  in  and  around 
Naples  but  also  at  Salerno,  where  dwelt  Tancred  and  the 
fair  Sigismond;  Paestum,  60  miles  south  of  this,  famous 
for  some  of  the  most  remarkable  ruins  extant,  especially  the 
temple  of  Neptune;  Amain,  once  the  first  commercial  power 
of  the  Peninsula,  which  claims  the  honor  of  the  invention  of 
the  mariner's  compass,  now  an  insignificant  village;  Baiael, 
once  the  most  elegant  and  luxurious  summer  resort  that  the 
world  has  yet  seen,  now  nothing.  These  and  others  did  I 
have  in  view,  but  my  limit  is  already  transcended. 

The  Duke  of  Calabria,  the  heir  apparent  to  the  Neapoli- 
tan throne,  has  just  taken  a  wife  and  brought  her  home,  and 
the  city  as  a  consequence  is  filled  with  titled  strangers  met 
to  congratulate  the  happy  pair  and  participate  in  the  fetes. 
The  prince  of  this  and  the  grand  duke  of  that  are  dancing 
attendance  upon  their  future  majesties.  Illuminations,  bon- 
fires, fetes  and  frolics,  ad  infinitum,  were  prepared  in  honor 
of  the  event,  but  lo  and  behold !  in  the  midst  of  all  this  prep- 
aration that  unceremonious  old  fellow,  with  a  scythe  and 
hourglass,  steps  in  and  takes  off  one  of  the  royal  visitors, 
Her  Highness  of  Tuscany.  Consequently,  everything  is  in- 
definitely postponed. 

A  little  morceau,  exemplifying  American  simplicity  as  an 
antidote  against  all  this  sententious  parade  and  mount ain-in- 
labor  tom-foolery.  A  few  days  ago,  having  occasion  to  call 
for  a  friend  at  the  Hotel  Vittoria,  in  glancing  over  the  list 
of  names,  titled  and  untitled,  I  chanced  to  see  that  of  Mr. 
Franklin  Pierce  and  Mrs.  Pierce,  United  States.  On  in- 
quiry, I  found  they  had  left  a  day  or  two  before  for  Capri 
and  Sorrento,  but  that  they  had  been  here  off  and  on  for  a 

[240] 


APPENDIX. 

month  previously.  In  this  quiet  unostentatious  gentleman 
few  foreigners  recognized  the  ex-first  magistrate  of  the  first 
nation  on  the  globe,  raised  to  that  proud  eminence  by  the  suf- 
frage of  a  larger  majority  than  ever  combined — indeed,  it 
would  be  a  "letting  down''  and  condescension  for  this  re- 
publican potentate  to  take  rooms  at  the  Palace  Royal  and 
mingle  with  the  regal  herd  "whom  the  King  delights  to 
honor." 

The  tour  of  President  Pierce  strikes  me  as  characteristic 
of  our  glorious  institutions,  the  genius  of  which  is  opposed 
to  consequentialS;  which  recognize  in  every  individual,  high 
or  low,  but  a  component  of  the  ''eternal  people,"  and  in  that 
people  the  source  of  all  the  importance  and  power  and  glory 
of  the  nation.  In  no  country  is  the  individual  so  small — the 
people  so  great. 

And  now  the  "wee  sma'  hours"  warn  me  to  bid  you  good- 
night. Be  not  surprised  to  receive  my  next  from  the  hundred 
gated  city  of  the  Xile.     Adios. 


Rome 

It  was  my  impression  that  I  had  preserved  a  letter  written 
from  Rome,  but  it  is  now  impossible  to  put  hands  on  it.  One 
extract,  however,  remains  in  my  mind,  which  is  as  vivid  now 
as  it  was  when  penned. 

To  me  the  most  hallowed  spot  in  the  Eternal  City,  not  ex- 
cepting gorgeous  cathedrals,  baths  and  temples,  was  a  spot 
not  now  marked  by  the  slightest  memorial,  which  will  explain 
itself  in  the  following  paragraph: 

"To-day  I  stood  on  the  spot  where  stood  the  bridge  defend- 
ed by  the  Coccles  (the  brave  Horatius).  Well  do  I  recall 
the  day  when,  as  an  unsophisticated  country  schoolboy,  I 
first  perused  the  enchanting  story,  and  I  thought  then,  as  I 
think  now,  that  I  would  rather  have  been  that  bold  plebeian 
with  naught  to  recommend  him  of  which  we  are  aware  than 
a  bold  heart,  a  strong  arm,  and  a  free  unfettered  spirit, 
backed  by  patriotism  paramount  to  every  other  consideration, 
than  all  of  the  Alexanders  and  Attilas,  Totilas  and  Tamer- 
lanes,  Caesars  and  Bonapartes,  who  have  cursed  mankind, 
combined  and  consolidated  in  one  grand  legitimate  cut- 
throat." 

16  [241] 


APPENDIX. 


Ancient  Thebes,  March.  23,  1859. 

Dear  Herald:  My  last  wasi  given  in  charge  to  a  passing 
boat,  on  nearing  this  place,  to  be  carried  to  Cairo  for  the 
post.  Since  then  we  have  been  prosecuting  the  purpose  of  the 
trip  with  such  ardor  and  celerity  that  the  major  part  of  the 
principal  objects  of  interest  in  this  vicinity  have  undergone 
our  scrutiny  and  submitted  to  an  examination.  The  results 
of  this  survey  I  am  now  about  to  communicate,  coupled  with 
such  reflections  as  naturally  suggest  themselves  to  my  mind: 
for  I  can  no  more  content  myself  with  a  succinct  matter  of 
fact  recital,  unaccompanied  by  those  valuable  concomitants, 
than  could  the  verbose  kinsman  of  "Cousin  Sally  Dilliard," 
when  on  the  witness  stand,  refrain  from  similar  surplusage. 

We  reached  this,  Luxor,  about  10  p.  m.,  on  the  evening  of 
the  18th,  catching  the  first  glimpse  of  its  mossy  monuments  by 
a  moonlight  almost  as  bright  as  that  of  clay.  1ST  ever  did  I  more 
fervently  realize  that  obscurity  is  an  element  of  the  sublime; 
never  did  I  more  felicitate  myself  on  the  concurrence  of 
time  and  circumstance  of  arrival.  Approaching  the  land- 
ing, its  columns  and  colossi,  its  pylon  and  obelisk,  stand  forth 
in  bold  relief  and  loom  up  large  when  beheld  for  the  first  time 
by  Cynthia's  dim  light. 

Having  slept  on  first  impressions,  we  arose  at  an  early 
hour,  and  with  patriotic  pride  beheld  "the  Stars  and  Stripes" 
waving  from  two  of  the  four  other  masts  at  the  landing  be- 
sides our  own.  To  those  acquainted  with  the  mercurial  pro- 
pensities of  our  own  kinsman,  Mr.  Bull,  it  is  needless  to  add 
that  "the  Union  Jack"  of  old  England  floated  from  the 
other  two;  that  bunting  of  all  others,  after  the  first  named, 
which  possesses  most  of  my  respect  and  partiality.  Crossing 
the  river,  we  proceeded  first,  to  inspect  the  wonders  of  the 
western  bank.  Half  an  hour's  ride  on  our  diminutive 
donkeys  brought  us  to  the  grateful  shade  of  the  "Colossi  of 
the  Plain"  (the  vocal  Memnon,  and  another  of  lesser  note), 
looking  in  the  distance  like  two  Cyclopean  sentries  seated  on 
posts  to  guard  the  approaches  to  the  Sacred  Enclosures  be- 
yond. It  was  with  a  mingled  feeling  of  disappointment  and  re- 
gret to  discover  them  composed  of  many  instead  of  being  cut 
out  of  a  single  block  of  stone,  as  T  had  always  supposed.  They 

[242] 


APPENDIX. 

are  much  mutilated,  "the  human  face  divine"  being  almost- 
effaced,  and  every  day  diminishing  the  resemblance,  owing  to 
the  puerile  desire  in  the  minds  of  most  visitors  to  carry  away 
a  piece. 

Were  it  not  that  the  age  of  miracles  is  still  existent,  it 
would  be  incredible  at  the  present  day  that  even  the  ductile 
faith  of  primeval  ignorance  could  be  gulled  by  such  a  prepos- 
terous imposture  as  that  associated  with  one  of  these  statues. 
Did  we  not  every  year  see  tangible  proof  of  the  contrary,  we 
might  boldly  assert  that  the  common  sense  and  skeptical  in- 
stinct of  the  age  would  not  require  the  assistance  of  acoustics 
to  induce  them  to  reject  with  derision  this  priestly  imposi- 
tion. But  knowing  this,  let  us  be  chary  of  a  presumptuous 
comparison  between  the  credulity  of  the  two  eras ;  for  in  all 
probability  could  the  priest  of  Isis,  Orisis,  or  Amnion,  start 
to  life  and  be  made  to  comprehend  the  statutes  of  the  old  and 
its  theologies,  he  would  smile  with  scorn  at  some  of  the  most 
cherished  mysteries  and  delusions  of  the  superstitious  herd 
of  the  present  day,  and  certainly  the  periodical  liquifaction 
of  the  blood  of  an  old  saint  (the  Neapolitan  miracle),  the 
holy  fire  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  table-turning  and  spirit-rap- 
ping of  our  country,  are  inventions  inferior  in  merit  and  dig- 
nity to  the  more  sublime  and  practical  of  their  own,  which 
made  the  creature  of  man's  hands  salute  with  an  exclamation 
of  joyous  surprise  the  advent  of  the  King  of  light,  the  most 
rational  and  respectable  of  all  the  emblems  and  figures  of 
heathen  adoration. 

With  the  exception  of  these  colossal  effigies  of  man,  noth- 
ing in  the  shape  of  his  creation  encumbers  the  plain  from  the 
Nile  to  the  Memnonium,  half  an  hour  further  inland ;  a 
plain  where  once  stood  a  city,  the  wonder  of  the  world ;  a 
city  from  each  of  whose  hundred  mouths  could  be  poured 
simultaneously  twice  that  number  of  chariots  with  their  due 
proportion  of  infantry  and  horsemen.  How  changed  the 
scene!  The  ploughshare  now  passes  over  the  spot.  The 
serried  hosts  and  life-destroying  legions  of  that  epoch  have 
passed  away  and  been  replaced  by  the  life-sustaining  cereals 
of  another.  In  a  word,  all  that  wealth  and  power  could  call 
into  existence;   all  the  vile   and   jostling  competition  of  a 

[243] 


APPENDIX. 

populous  community ;    all  the  hustling  magnificence  which 
usually  betokens  the  site  of  the  world's  metropolis 

has  dissolved 
And  like  an  unsubstantial  pageant  faded 
Left  scarce  a  wreck  behind. 

To  give  even  a  brief  outline  of  the  Memnonium  and  tem- 
ples would  require  an  amount  of  space  which  you  were  as 
loath  to  accord  as  I  to  take.  To  describe  them  by  a  word,  I 
know  of  no  more  fitting  epithet  than  Dominie  Sampson's 
f( prodigious."  The  Egyptian  order  of  architecture  was  never 
home-like,  nor  have  my  prejudices  been  materially  mollified 
by  immediate  contact  with  these,  the  noblest  specimens  of  it 
extant.  There  is  too  much  of  the  funereal,  something  too 
solemnly  grand,  if  you  will,  to  suit  my  fancy.  But  inde- 
pendently of  preconceived  bias,  I  am  not  a  sufficiently  com- 
petent judge  of  the  merits  of  the  science  to  institute  an  equit- 
able comparison  between  that  and  its  more  polished  rivals, 
or  offspring  rather.  Nevertheless,  it  must  be  confessed  that 
in  the  solidity  of  its  parts,  the  justness  of  its  proportions,  its 
simplicity  and  power  of  durability,  there  is  much  to  recom- 
mend it  even  when  weighed  in  the  balance  against  the  unpre- 
tending Greek  or  more  graceful  Gothic;  much  to  palliate  its 
more  glaring  defects,  and  to  enlist  our  wonder  and  astonish- 
ment, whilst  unqualified  admiration  is  rarely  conceded.  It 
is  the  order  of  all  the  others  which  seems  best  calculated  to 
mock  the  mutations  of  time  and  the  vandal  malevolence  of 
man.  "Time's  scythe  and  tyrant's  rods  shiver  upon  them," 
to  plagiarize  the  noble  apostrophe  to  the  Patheon,  of  Eng- 
land's noble  bard. 

The  pyramidical  towers  facing  the  gateway,  the  pylon  and 
columns,  are  the  parts  invariably  in  the  best  state  of  preser- 
vation. The  lotus-shaped  capital  was  evidently  the  favorite 
design,  and  justly,  although  in  the  same  building,  and  even 
in  the  same  chamber,  a  conjunction  with  others  is  no  unfre- 
quent  occurrence.  By  the  way,  respecting  the  lotus  which 
furnished  them  the  idea,  it  may  not  be  generally  known  to. 
the  supporters  of  prophecy  that,  in  conformity  to  the  predic- 
tion of  Isaiah,  this,  the  bulrush,  and  all  other  water-plants 
which  once  abounded  in  the  Nile,  have  entirely  disappeared. 

[244] 


APPENDIX. 

Prostrate  in  the  court  of  the  Memnonium  or  Renieseum. 
rather,  is  the  granite  Colossus  of  Remeses  II,  so  stupendous 
even  in  its  fallen  grandeur  that  its  demolition  without  the 
agency  of  gunpowder  has  astonished  the  savants  of  our  time 
as  much  as  the  construction  of  another  monument.  It  is  cut 
out  of  a  single  block  of  the  hardest  Egyptian  granite  and  is 
the  largest  of  that  description  of  which  the  annals  or  tradi- 
tion of  the  country  make  mention.  The  erection  and  trans- 
portation of  these  tremendous  blocks  of  stone  has  surpassed 
the  world's  comprehension  almost  from  the  day  upon  which 
the  last  was  elevated.  In  transporting  one  of  the  two  obe- 
lisks which  formerly  stood  at  Luxor,  and  now  ornaments  the 
"Place  de  la  Concorde,"  Paris,  the  French  Government  em- 
ployed several  hundred  of  its  own  subjects  and  thousands  of 
those  of  the  Pasha,  all  of  whom  were  engaged  at  the  work  a 
year  or  two,  and  had  finally  to  await  an  extraordinary  over- 
flow of  the  river  in  order  to  get  it  afloat. 

The  second  day  was  devoted  to  the  wonders  of  Karnak,  dis- 
tant from  our  boat  perhaps  a  couple  of  miles.  As  you  are 
probably  aware,  Karnak,  Luxor,  Kodrheh,  Medeemel  Haboo, 
et  cetera,  all  occupy  parts  of  the  ancient  capital;  and  from 
their  remoteness  from  each  other  and  with  a  river  inter- 
vening, ample  evidence  is  afforded  that  its  importance  and 
immensity  were  not  overrated  by  the  historian  and  geogra- 
pher of  the  time.  Having  already  applied  my  strongest  ex- 
pletive to  express  appreciation  of  the  temples  of  Medeemel 
Haboo,  what  adequate  term  can  be  applied  to  the  great  temple 
of  Karnak?  None  in  my  vocabulary  will  serve  the  turn. 
Suffice  it  that  the  impression  of  superlative  astonishment,  pro- 
duced by  the  Colosseum  in  Rome,  was  eclipsed  in  the  self- 
same hour  that  my  mind  received  that  of  the  other ;  and  I  am 
disposed  to  think,  that  had  it  flourished  simultaneously,  the 
great  temple  of  Solomon  had  not  come  down  to  us  as  standing 
isolated  and  alone,  the  architectural  prodigy  of  the  world. 
The  statement  of  Diodorus,  ascribing  to  its  walls  a  circumfer- 
ence of  one  mile  and  a  half  English,  a  thickness  of  25  feet 
and  an  altitude  of  45  cubits,  is  certainly  entitled  to  more 
credence  than  the  generality  of  readers  are  disposed  to  con- 
cede it.     Although  these   dimensions   are  necessarily  much 

[245  J 


APPENDIX. 


abridged  by  lapse  of  time,  there  is  still  enough  left  to  con- 
vince the  pilgrim  that  more  time,  labor,  stone,  money  and 
mortar  were  required  in  its  completion  that  that  of  any  other 
edifice  that  can  be  pointed  out  at  the  present  day. 

In  the  grand,  or  columnar,  hall,  270  by  329  feet,  I  counted 
134  pillars  of  66  and  42  feet,  respectively,  exclusive  of  the 
pedestal,  and  a  circumference  of  40  and  27  feet.  Nine  out 
of  ten  of  all  these  are  as  perfect  as  if  the  building  were  still 
in  the  course  of  construction.  In  another  part  are  two  beau- 
tiful obelisks  of  98  feet  each.  In  its  finished  state  it  stood 
forth  to  the  world  in  all  its  resplendent  glories,  the  work  of 
many  monarchs  and  different  dynasties,  extending  through 
an  interval  of  a  thousand  or  two  years,  and  consequently  ex- 
hibiting within  itself  the  successive  gradations  of  the  birth, 
rise,  progress,  and  perfection  of  its  proper  order  of  architec- 
ture. Like  all  other  works  of  the  period,  its  walls  are 
crowded  with  hieroglyphics,  those  rude  symbols  of  ideas, 
which  may  be  considered  as  embodying  the  first  principles  of 
that  divine  science  subsequently  introduced  into  Europe  by 
Cadmus.  Having  mentioned  the  great  attraction  of  the  local- 
ity, the  inferior  sights  consisting  of  the  smaller  temples  and 
hundreds  of  mutilated  Sphinxes,  Colossi,  et  cetera,  which 
were  as  tame  in  recital  as  they  were  in  review,  we  will  leave 
Karnak  and  return  to  our  boat. 

Not  less  wonderful  and  more  enduring  are  the  abodes  of 
the  dead  than  the  palaces  of  the  living,  or  the  fanes  of  the 
false  gods.  The  entire  chain  of  hills  on  the  western  bank, 
as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach,  is  one  vast  necropolis  abounding 
in  tombs  as  thick  as  a  native  with  fifth  and  vermin.  The 
care  which  this  ancient  people  bestowed  upon  its  dead  argues 
unmistakably  their  belief  that  the  future  happiness  or  misery 
of  the  deceased  was  materially  affected  thereby.  This  con- 
viction seems  to  have  been  transmitted  unimpaired  to  their 
posterity,  and  to  be  shared  in  common  by  all  the  nations  pro- 
fessing the  Koran. 

Two  hours'  ride  on  the  third  day,  under  the  most  oppres- 
sive sun  that  I  have  ever  experienced,  brought  us  to  Belzoni's 
tomb,  so-called  from  its  modern  discoverer.  A  description  of 
this  will  apply  with  some  variations  to  dozens  of  others  which 

[246] 


APPENDIX. 


are  visited.  Descending  by  a  precipitous  staircase  some 
fifty  or  sixty  feet,  a  wide  passage  at  the  bottom  leads  into  a 
number  of  commodious  apartments  decorated  in  the  highest 
style  of  Egyptian  art.  Retracing  the  way  partly,  and  turn- 
ing a  corner  at  right  angles,  a  second  flight  of  stairs  leads 
further  down  into  other  chambers  similar  in  all  respects  to 
those  above.  At  the  farther  extremity  of  these,  that  is,  342 
feet  from  the  entrance,  is  an  inclined  plain,  at  an  angle  of 
43  degrees,  leading,  I  should  imagine,  some  fifty  or  sixty 
yards  farther  down.  The  whole  of  this  immense  cavity  re- 
minds me  more  forcibly  of  the  Mammoth  Cave,  or  Grotto  of 
Adelsburg,  than  an  artificial  excavation  that  occurs  to  me. 
It  is  cut  out  of  solid  stone  (a  white  calcareous  limestone),  in 
no  part  of  which  could  I  detect  the  slightest  flaw  of  imperfec- 
tion, and  admits  of  as  high  a  polish  as  marble  itself,  thus 
obviating  the  necessity  of  cement  for  purposes  of  mural  dec- 
oration, every  part  of  it  as  well  proportioned  as  if  the  whole 
were  the  work  of  a  master  mason,  led  by  line  and  plumb,  and 
with  brick  and  mortar  for  materials.  On  the  entire  surface 
there  is  not  a  spot  as  large  as  my  hand  untouched  by  fresco 
or  hieroglyphics.  You  may  think  this  is  a  remarkable  sepul- 
chre, but  in  no  essential  point  does  it  differ  from  scores,  per- 
haps hundreds,  of  others,  in  its  vicinage,  such  as  those  of 
the  Harper  Amundph,  the  kings  and  queens.  The  tomb  of 
the  Scipios  in  Rome  was  evidently  borrowed  from  the  Egyp- 
tian, but  in  treading  the  ashes  of  that  illustrious  family 
there  is  a  sensation  of  oppressiveness  and  difficulty  of  respira- 
tion, owing  to  the  low,  narrow  and  contracted  space,  and  con- 
sequent confined  atmosphere.  Here,  however,  there  is  noth- 
ing of  the  kind,  and  the  antiquarian  might  pass  a  twelve 
month  in  deciphering  its  inscriptions  (than  which  I  had 
rather  undertake  the  disentanglement  of  a  Chinese  tea-chest) 
more  comfortably  than  in  any  dwelling-place  between  this 
and  Cairo. 

This  morning,  having  examined  the  antiquities  of  Luxor, 
which  elsewhere  were  well  worthy  of  a  circumspect  examina- 
tion, but  here  are  commonplace  (except  its  obelisk,  whose 
dogs,  cats,  crabs,  crocodiles,  orang-outangs,  and  animals,  hon- 
ored with  an  effigy,  are  more  deeply  cut  and  consequent v 

f247] 


APPENDIX. 


more  legible  than  on  any  other  known),  I  called  on  the  Con- 
sular Agent.  I  have  heard  of  sinecures ;  our  list  affords  a 
few  such,  and  its  great  merit  is  that  the  number  is  more 
limited  than  that  of  any  other.  But  certainly  a  more  com- 
plete sinecure  and  more  profitless  than  that  worthy  man,  can- 
not be  found.  If  his  fees  reach  five  dollars  per  annum  they 
exceed  my  guess.  Nevertheless,  he  is  studiously  courteous, 
attentive  and  urbane  in  his  bearing  towards  Americans,  thus 
setting  an  example  worthy  of  imitation  by  some  of  our  other 
representatives  in  the  East. 

Tie  is  a  native,  a  Mussulman,  and  as  far  as  I  could  judge,  a 
gentleman ;  a  compliment  I  would  feign  extend  to  his  confrere 
of  Cairo  could  I  in  justice  do  so ;  but  who,  if  my  estimate 
be  correct,  is  emphatically  "the  wrong  man  in  the  wrong 
place."  It  was  Louis  XIV,  I  believe,  who  said  of  Churc- 
hill,— that  he  ought  to  be  a  general  commanding  or — a  cap- 
tain, but  that  he  was  unfit  for  a  regiment.  So  of  this  indi- 
vidual; he  ought  to  be  a  king  or  a  constable;  as  the  republi- 
can consul  is  evidently  unable  or  unwilling  to  bring  to  bear, 
in  the  discharge  of  his  duties,  those  qualities  essential  to  a 
worthy  fulfillment  of  the  office.  Our  system  of  rotation  in 
office,  with  all  its  abuses  and  abuse,  has  its  advantages  as  well 
as  the  life-tenure  or  indefinite  system  so  lauded  by  our 
friends,  the  English,  not  the  least  obvious  of  which,  perhaps, 
is  the  necessity  it  imposes  upon  the  place-man  of  "affecting  a 
politeness  foreign  to  his  nature  in  order  that  he  may  retain 
his  post."  Another  homely  truth  that  it  brings  home  to  his 
comprehension  is  that,  with  us,  the  office  honors  the  man, 
and  not  the  man  the  office ;  and  this,  "though  all  the  blood  of 
all  the  Howards,"  yea,  of  all  the  "conquerors"  that  encum- 
bered the  world  from  Cain  downwards  should  flow  in  his 
veins.  Knowing  this,  I  would  respectfully  suggest  the  retir- 
acy  of  those  "illustrious  foreigners"  unwilling  to  admit  this 
leveling  axiom. 

I  deem  it  needless  to  say,  in  conclusion,  that  whenever  I 
see  fit  to  overhaul  the  official  conduct  of  any  man  in  the  col- 
umns of  a  public  print,  my  name  and  address  are  patent  to 
all  applicants ;  for  if  I  claim  the  right  of  a  Junius  I  disclaim 
his  nonentity,  and  so,  Mr.  Editor,  apologizing  on  the  score  of 
haste  for  all  imperfections,  I  bid  you  a  goodnight. 

[2  48] 


APPENDIX. 


Sketch  of  the  Second  N.  C.  Battalion — Wises',  Later  on  in 
Daniel's  Brigade. 

If  any  apology  is  necessary  for  the  oft  recurrence  of  the 
pronoun  personal  in  the  following  report,  the  writer  hopes  it 
will  be  found  in  the  peculiar  make  up  of  this  gallant  com- 
mand, organized  mainly  through  his  instrumentality,  com- 
posed of  companies  from  three  different  States,  and  as  inci- 
dent to  such  composition  mustered  directly  into  the  Confeder- 
ate service  instead  of  primarily  into  that  of  either  State. 
iSTorth  Carolina  supplied  two-thirds  of  its  numerical  strength 
and  gave  it  name  and  designation.  The  fate  of  war  decreed 
that  its  initial  hostile  move  was  to  a  point  where  capture  was 
inevitable,  and  before  the  arrival  of  the  two  last  companies 
requisite  to  complete  its  regimental  organization. 

In  the  first  days  of  April,  1861,  the  telegraph  left  no 
room  for  doubt  that  the  United  States  Government  was  re- 
solved to  try  and  revictual  Fort  Sumter,  then  beleaguered  by 
the  young  government  just  springing  into  being. 

Each  fully  realized  that  that  meant  war.  The  next  train 
carried  the  writer  to  Charleston  as  a  would-be  volunteer  gun- 
ner, anxious  to  see  the  beginning  of  what  he  deemed  the  in- 
evitable struggle,  and  hence  nowise  loth  to  see  it  begin.  In 
this  he  was  disappointed,  as  orders  had  just  been  issued  for- 
bidding any  additional  recruits  into  the  batteries.  He  heard, 
however,  the  opening  gun  of  the  mighty  drama  to  follow,  and 
a  day  later  the  final  one  which  preceded  the  surrender  of  this 
almost  impregnable  fortress,  as  subsequent  events  proved  it 
to  be,  when  besieged  and  besiegers  were  reversed.  It  was  a 
dramatic  sight  replete  with  patriotic  enthusiasm,  even  as 
witnessed  from  the  city  battery.  A  thrilling  one  when  "the 
old  flag"  was  hauled  down  in  token  of  evacuation  and  "the 
new  one"  run  up.  With  hundreds  of  others  our  little  boat 
was  just  below  the  walls  when  it  was  done,  an  explosion  of 
cartridges  killing  three  of  the  garrison  while  saluting  the  first. 

A  few  days  later  my  company,  that  is,  the  one  in  which  I 
was  an  enrolled  private,  was  in  camp  at  the  State  Capital. 
The  very  first  I  think  to  go  into  the  camp  of  instruction  there 
was  the  "Warren  Guards,"  Cay>t.  Ben  Wade.     Certainly  one 

[249] 


APPENDIX. 


of  the  three  first.  After  a  short  space  of  preliminary  drill 
it  was  assigned  to  the  First  Regiment,  Col.  D.  H.  Hill. 

This  company  and  two  others  had  done  me  the  honor  of 
giving  me  their  unanimous  vote  (all  voting)  for  the  Lieuten- 
ant-Colenelcy  of  this  the  initial  regiment  from  our  State. 

For  some  unexplained  cause,  all  three  of  these  were  rele- 
gated to  the  next  succeeding  regiment,  the  Second,  later  on 
numbered  the  Twelfth,  to  avoid  ambiguity  with  what  was 
known  as  State  troops. 

This  regiment  was  organized  at  Garysburg  by  the  election 
of  Lieutenant  Sol.  Williams,  lately  resigned  from  the  United 
States  Army,  as  Colonel,  and  was  straightway  moved  to 
Richmond.  Short.lv  after  arrival  there,  it  was  ordered  to 
Norfolk 

Whilst  in  camp  there  ex-Governor  Wise,  then  a  Brigadier 
General,  sent  me,  unsolicited  on  my  part,  authority  to  raise  a 
regiment  and  join  his  command,  known  as  the  Wise  Legion. 
It  is  a  matter  of  no  little  satisfaction  that,  upon  its  being 
known,  the  last  official  act  of  North  Carolina's  first  great 
War  Governor,  John  W.  Ellis,  was  to  give  me  an  order  for 
some  six  hundred  Enfield  rifles,  the  only  ones  at  the  State's 
disposal.  Unfortunately  for  me,  however,  before  all  my  com- 
panies could  reach  the  camp  of  formation  (and  there  were 
eighteen  from  which  to  select),  and  requisition  be  made  for 
my  guns,  this  glorious  son  of  North  Carolina  had  breathed 
his  last,  and  almost  the  first  official  act  of  his  successor  was 
to  revoke  his  order  and  to  give  my  guns  to  another,  no  cause 
being  assigned  and  none  but  favoritism  presumable.  In  view 
of  this  gross  injustice  the  Legislature,  only  three  dissenting, 
voted  me  fifty  thousand  dollars  to  arm  and  equip  my  com- 
mand. Ordinarily  such  a  sum  would  have  far  more  than  suf- 
ficed, but  in  those  days  weapons  of  approved  pattern  were 
above  money  and  above  price,  simply  because  they  were  not 
to  be  had.  Luckily  my  command  was  composed  of  the  right 
sort  of  men,  not  finnicky  or  over-fastidious  as  to  outfit. 
Though  cheated  of  our  "Enfields,"  to  the  front  we  would  go 
with  squirrel  substitutes  and  double-barrel  shot  guns  of  divers 
calibre.  Every  man  was  afraid  that  he  couldn't  get  a  hand 
before  the  game  would  be  ended.     And  so  these  honest  work- 

[250] 


APPENDIX. 

men  took  the  best  tools  that  they  could  get,  and  there  was  no 
grumbling.  We  all  expected  better  after  our  first  fair  field 
and  an  honest  fight.  Fortunately  our  uncouth  armament 
was  supplemented  by  some  350  old  flint  lock  muskets  which 
Governor  Letcher,  of  Virginia,  generously  turned  over  to 
me,  because  his  folks  wouldn't  touch  such  tools.  After  being 
percushioned  by  the  Government,  they  made  very  respectable 
killing  implements,  especially  when  each  double  barrel  man 
carried  beside  a  two-foot  carving  knife  of  the  heft  of  a  meat 
axe  in  lieu  of  bayonet. 

After  such  an  elaborate  outfit,  not  counting  a  good,  warm 
overcoat  all  around,  it  will  hardly  seem  credible  that  within 
a  year  thirty-two  thousand  and  odd  dollars  were  returned  to 
the  State  Treasury,  to  the  surprise  if  not  disgust  of  sterling 
old  Mr.  Coates.  ''Why,  Colonel,  this  thing  is  without  prece- 
dent," was  his  only  comment. 

In  the  fall  of  1861  was  ordered  by  General  Cooper,  Adju- 
tant and  Inspector  General,  to  proceed  to  Wilmington  and 
report  to  Gen.  Joseph  R.  Anderson,  commanding  the  Depart- 
ment of  North  Carolina.  By  him  was  assigned  to  the  duty 
of  guarding  the  coast  above  and  below  Masonboro  Sound, 
some  seven  miles  to  the  east  of  that  city.  We  continued  in 
the  discharge  of  that  duty  until  the  30th  of  January,  1862, 
when  I  was  ordered  by  General  Cooper,  A.  and  I.  General, 
to  proceed  at  once  to  Roanoke  Island,  then  threatened  by  the 
Federal  force  under  General  Burnside.  At  this  time  the 
Second  North  Carolina  Battalion  consisted  of  the  following 
eight  companies,  averaging  about  eighty-five  men  to  the  com- 
pany. My  two  last  companies  necessary  to  a  regiment  had 
not  then  reported. 

(Owing  to  the  loss  of  my  papers  when  captured,  necessity 
frequently  compels  the  use  of  proximates. ) 

FIELD  AND  STAFF. 

Wharton  J.  Green,  Lieutenant-Colonel  commanding;  Mar- 
cus Erwin,  Major;  Dr.  Frank  Patterson,  Surgeon;  Dr.  Sam- 
uel Young,  Assistant  Surgeon;    ......   McNTutt,  Adjutant; 

Capt.  A.  H.  Shuford,  Quartermaster  and  Commissary;  Rev. 
H.  E.  Brooks,  Chaplain. 

[251] 


APPENDIX. 

Company  A,  raised  in  Stokes  Comity,  N.  C.  Captain,  Mil- 
ton Smith;  Lieutenants,  J.  B.  Tucker,  N.  G.  Smith,  Edwin 
Smith. 

Company  B,  raised  in  Surry  County,  N.  C.  Captain,  D. 
M.  Cooper;  Lieutenants,  L.  J.  Norman,  J.  Sayars,  J.  Gordon. 

Company  C,  raised  in  Mecklenburg  County,  Va.  Captain, 
R.  C.  Overby;  Lieutenants,  B.  P.  Williamson,  Henry  S. 
Wood,  B.  R.  Williamson. 

Company  D,  raised  in  Pike  County,  Ga.  Captain,  Ed- 
ward Smith ;  Lieutenants,  W.  H.  McClure,  R.  M.  Julian, 
David  T.  Harris. 

Company  E,  raised  in  Merriwether  County,  Ga.  Captain, 
DuBose ;  Lieutenants,  J.  J.  Tucker,  W.  J.  Hudson,  J.  N.  Lee. 

Company  F,  raised  in  Randolph  County,  1ST.  C.  Captain, 
T.  W.  Andrews;  Lieutenants,  John  M.  Hancock,  Z.  J.  Wil- 
liams. 

Company  G,  raised  in  Forsyth  County,  1ST.  C.  Captain, 
W.  H.  Wheeler;  Lieutenants,  J.  S.  Swain,  H.  C.  Wheeler, 
R.  Gorrill. 

Company  H,  raised  in  Madison  County,  1ST.  C.  Captain, 
S.  F.  Allen ;  Lieutenants,  Van  Brown,  Condell. 

There  may  be  a  mistake  in  lettering  two  of  the  companies, 
which,  however,  is  not  material. 

As  has  been  said  above,  the  order  from  the  War  Depart- 
ment to  proceed  to  Roanoke  Island  (the  only  one  under  which 
I  could  venture  to  move),  reached  me  on  the  evening  of  Jan- 
uary 30th.  Some  ten  or  twTelve  days  anterior  thereto,  how- 
ever, the  following  order  was  received  from  General  Wise 
to  the  same  effect: 

"Norfolk,  Va.,  January  15,  1862. 
Col.  Wharton  J.  Green,  Commanding,  etc. : 

Sik: — You  will,  as  early  as  practicable,  move  your  whole 
force  from  Wilmington,  1ST.  C,  to  Norfolk,  Va.,  and  there 
report  to  General  Huger  for  transportation  to  Roanoke  Island. 
Bring  with  your  men  all  the  outfit  which  you  can  procure 
at  Wilmington,  and  make  requisitions  at  Norfolk  for  defi- 
ciencies. Prompt  movement  is  necessary,  as  the  enemy  are 
near  in  large  force.  Henry  A.  Wise, 

Brigadier-General." 
[252] 


APPENDIX. 


I  waited  at  once  on  General  Anderson  and  asked  for  per- 
mission to  start  the  next  day.  This  he  peremptorily  refused, 
threatening  arrest  if  the  attempt  was  made.  "You  are  under 
my  command/'  he  said,  "by  order  of  General  Cooper,  and  no 
less  authority  is  going  to  take  you  away  from  here." 

He,  however,  consented  that  Major  Erwin  might  go  to 
Richmond  and  lay  the  matter  before  the  Secretary  of  War 
for  final  arbitrament.  The  Major  carried  request  from  me 
to  obey  General  Wise's  order,  and  protest  against  it  from 
General  Anderson. 

After  the  interval  stated,  and  after  General  Wise  had 
written  the  Secretary  of  War  under  date  of  "January  26. 
Please  order  the  forces  of  my  Legion  under  Colonel  Greene, 
at  Wilmington,  1ST.  C,  *  *  *  to  be  forwarded  to  me,"  the 
desired  permission  (order)  arrived. 

Within  the  shortest  possible  time  that  transportation  could 
be  obtained,  about  thirty-six  hours  after  receipt  of  order,  we 
went  on  way  to  destination. 

On  reaching  jSTorfolk,  was  again  detained  two  or  three 
days  (needlessly,  I  thought,  and  still  think),  awaiting  water 
transportation,  starting  on  February  5th. 

The  sequel  is  sufficiently  set  forth  in  my  report  of  opera- 
tions of  the  next  three  days  ensuing,  of  date  February  18th, 
herewith  reproduced  from  the  War  Records,  Vol.  IX,  Series 
1,  to  which  should  be  added  that  this  command  was  the  only 
one  under  arms  outside  of  the  water  batteries  at  the  time  of 
the  surrender. 

Am  thus  explicit  in  details  concerning  this  first  great  dis- 
aster to  the  Confederate  cause  in  order  to  refute  the  unjust 
insinuation  of  General  Wise  that  I  was  needlessly  dilatory  in 
starting  from  Wilmington  in  obedience  to  his  orders.  In 
plain  words,  that  those  issued  direct  from  the  war  office  were 
not  subordinated  to  his.  The  absurdity  of  the  assumption  is 
not  deserving  of  comment.  If  any  were  needed,  it  is  sup- 
plied in  the  Report  of  the  Congressional  Investigating  Com- 
mittee, and  the  personal  encomium  therein  contained  to 
myself. 

His  absence  from  the  island,  and  presence  on  the  mainland 
during  the  entire  fighting,  should  have  made  him  more  cau- 

[253] 


APPENDIX. 

tious  in  his  reflections,  not  only  in  this  case  but  against  almost 
every  other  regimental  commander  there  present  It  grieves 
to  say  as  much  of  one  who  had  presumptively  done  a  favor. 
A  brilliant  talker,  a  fiery  orator,  a  pungent  writer,  and  withal, 
a  patriot,  all  this  he  was,  but  like  some  other  political  gen- 
erals, a  very  indifferent  soldier. 

Querulous  with  superiors,  captious  to  equals,  insolent  to 
subordinates,  and  opinionated  in  the  superlative  degree,  to- 
tally unfitted  him  for  command  at  a  most  important  point 
and  at  a  most  critical  juncture.  Had  this  not  been  said  in 
effect  before  the  Investigating  Committee  relative  to  the  fall 
of  Roanoke  Island,  and  in  refutal  of  the  baseless  aspersion 
above  referred  to,  it  probably  would  not  here  appear.  No 
less  is  due  to  my  gallant  command  as  well  as  to  myself  in  the 
proposed  embodiment  of  historic  regimental  sketches  of  the 
various  commands  of  our  State.  Immediately  after  exchange 
the  Second  Battalion  was  upon  my  application  transferred  to 
the  brigade  of  that  superb  soldier,  Junius  Daniel,  and  after 
his  death  at  Spottsylvania,  commanded  by  his  worthy  suc- 
cessor, General  Bryan  Grimes. 

Recurring  to  report  alluded  to,  let  it  be  premised  that  the 
Second  Battalion  was  most  needlessly  included  in  the  list  of 
prisoners  that  day.  After  the  fall  back  of  the  troops  en- 
gaged, and  the  resolve  to  surrender,  an  official  order  to  re- 
embark  and  strike  for  the  mainland  would  have  saved  every 
man  in  it. 

No.  28. 

REPORT  OF  LIEUTENANT-COLONEL  WHARTON 
J.  GREEN,  SECOND  NORTH  CAROLINA  BAT- 
TALION, ON  BOARD  STEAMER  S.  R.  SPAULD- 
ING. 

Off  Roanoke  Island,  N.  C,  February  18,  1862. 
Sir  : — I  herewith  submit  a  report,  of  the  skirmish  in  which 
my  battalion  (Second  North  Carolina)  was  engaged  on  Sat- 
urday, the  8th  inst. : 

In  obedience  to  orders  from  Adjutant-General  Cooper,  re- 
ceived on  the  evening  of  January  30,  I  struck  camp  in  the 
vicinity  of  Wilmington  on  the  morning  of  the  1st  inst.,  and 

[254] 


APPENDIX. 

proceeded  hither  with  all  possible  dispatch.  Owing  to  the 
want  of  transports  we  were  detained  two  days  and  upward  in 
Norfolk,  leaving  that  place  on  Wednesday,  the  5th  inst,  in 
tow  of  the  canal  tug-boat  White. 

On  Friday,  when  about  thirty  miles  distant  from  the  island, 
continued  discharges  of  artillery  informed  us  of  the  progress 
of  a  fight  between  the  Federal  fleet  and  Confederate  batteries. 
Being  entirely  ignorant  of  the  topography  of  the  island,  and 
not  knowing  where  or  to  whom  to  report,  I  left  our  transports 
about  twenty  miles  hence  and  came  on  in  the  steamer  for 
information.  Having  obtained  which,  I  returned  to  my  men 
and  crowded  them  on  the  smallest  number  of  transports  that 
would  contain  them,  and  then  started.  The  night  was  very 
dark  and  stormy,  with  the  wind  against  us,  consequently  our 
progress  was  slow. 

After  beating  about  until  midnight  our  pilot  declared  that 
he  had  lost  his  reckoning,  and  as  we  had  only  a  fathom  and  a 
half  of  water  thought  it  safer  to  wait  for  daylight. 

About  2  a.  m.  Saturday  a  number  of  Confederate  gunboats 
passed  us  from  the  direction  of  the  island,  one  of  them  run- 
ning into  the  schooner  Beauregard  (one  of  our  transports) 
and  seriously  injuring  her.  In  reply  to  our  challenge  and 
statement  of  our  condition,  all  the  answer  we  could  get  was 

that  one  of  the  boats  was  the  Beaufort,  the  other  the 

Had  they  stopped  in  their  flight  long  enough  to  exchange 
pilots  with  us,  or  even  to  give  our's  the  necessary  instructions 
as  to  his  course,  my  battalion  would  have  reached  the  island 
in  time  to  have  participated  in  the  entire  action. 

Failing  to  do  so,  it  was  10  a.  m.  when  we  reached  the  island, 
and  12  o'clock  before  the  men,  arms  and  ammunition  could 
be  got  on  shore,  owing  to  their  having  to  be  taken  on  lighters. 
Having  distributed  all  of  my  ammunition  I  started  for  the 
scene  of  action,  but  soon  met  scores  of  stragglers,  who  re- 
ported everything  lost  and  the  Confederate  forces  entirely 
dispersed. 

Notwithstanding  these  discouraging  reports,  my  men  kept 
in  good  spirits  and  pressed  on  with  animation.  On  reaching 
your  camp,  and  having  the  worst  reports  confirmed,  I  called 
upon  you  for  orders,  and  was  told  to  proceed  to  a  point  some 

[255] 


APPENDIX. 


mile  or  two  distant,  under  the  guidance  of  Major  Williamson, 
and  take  position. 

After  proceeding  about  half  a  mile  we  came  suddenly  upon 
a  Federal  regiment,  which  I  have  since  learned  was  the 
Twenty-first  Massachusetts.  The  two  advanced  companies  of 
the  respective  commands  were  about  seventy-five  paces  apart, 
I  being  some  twenty  paces  in  advance  of  mine.  I  gave  the 
command,  "By  company  into  line,"  when  the  officer  in  com- 
mand of  the  Federal  regiment  threw  up  his  hand  and  cried 
out,  "Stop,  stop,  Colonel;  don't  fire;  you  are  mistaken!"  Be- 
lieving it  to  be  a  trick,  I  repeated  my  command.  Thereupon 
the  Federal  officer  gave  the  command,  "Fire."  My  advanced 
companies  returned  the  fire,  firing  at  will  after  the  first  vol- 
ley. Finding  that  there  was  some  confusion,  and  not  know- 
ing the  ground,  I  soon  became  satisfied  that  I  could  not  form 
my  men  in  line  of  battle  to  any  advantage  on  the  ground  that 
they  then  occupied,  so  I  ordered  them  to  fall  back  a  short  dis- 
tance, and  from  behind  the  log  houses  occupied  by  Colonel 
Jordan's  regiment  as  quarters.  This  they  did  in  good  order. 
The  Federals  fell  back  immediately  after.  Immediately 
after  forming  behind  the  houses,  Lieutenant  Colonel  Fowle, 
of  the  Thirty-first  ISTorth  Carolina,  passed  by  with  a  white 
flag,  and  stated  that  a  surrender  had  been  determined  upon. 

My  loss  was  three  men  killed  and  five  wounded,  two  of 
whom  have  since  died.  I  am  happy  to  be  able  to  report  favor 
ably  of  the  action  of  both  officers  and  men.  The  enemy's 
loss,  as  learned  from  themselves,  was  between  twenty  and 
thirty.  I  marched  my  entire  command,  with  very  few  ex- 
ceptions, in  good  order  back  to  your  camp. 

I  am,  sir,  very  respectfully, 
Your  obedient  servant, 

Wharton  J.  Green, 
Lieut.-Col.  Second  N.  C.  Battalion. 

Col.  H.  M.  Shaw. 

Note. — In  my  report  to  Colonel  Shaw,  should  have  been 
stated  the  fact  that  I  strenuously  protested  against  surrender 
without  a  further  effort  to  resume  our  original  lines,  pledg- 
ing my  command  to  hold  the  enemy's  advance  in  check  a 

[256] 


APPENDIX. 

reasonable  time  if  he  would  come  to  our  assistance  with  the 
other  troops.  This  I  certainly  understood  him  to  promise  to 
do.  A  mistaken  sense  of  courtesy  or  delicacy  to  the  officer 
in  immediate  command,  to  whom  report  was  submitted,  for- 
bade its  insertion  at  the  time.  Sure  I  am  that  the  survivors 
of  the  gallant  gentlemen  who  were  present  at  that  interview, 
and  there  were  many,  will  avouch  to  the  accuracy  of  the  state- 
ment. The  Second  North  Carolina  Battalion  ivas  in  un- 
broken line  of  battle  with  twenty  thousand  foemen  advan- 
cing, but  hoping  re-enforcement,  when  the  white  flag  of  sur- 
render passed.  In  reply  to  my  expressed  purpose  to  double- 
quick  it  back  to  the  transports  with  an  eye  to  escape,  the  an- 
swer came,  "This  island  and  all  upon  it  has  been  surrendered. 
You  will  make  the  attempt  on  your  peril  of  breach  of  terms." 

A  little  incident  of  juvenile  heroism,  surpassing  that  of 
"the  boy  on  the  burning  deck,"  may  not  be  out  of  place. 
Whilst  awaiting  the  enemy  in  force,  a  little  lad  scarce  mid*- 
way  in  his  teens,,  walked  down  the  front  of  the  line,  his  right 
arm  dangling  at  his  side  but  still  clutching  his  trusty  double- 
barrel  with  his  left. 

"Colonel,"  he  said,  "they  have  broken  my  arm.  Can  I  go 
to  the  rear  and  let  Dr.  Patterson  look  after  it  V 

There  was  no  more  perturbation  in  his  voice  than  if  he  had 
been  asking  or  answering  a  question  on  parade.  There  was 
incipient  hero  there,  and  would  that  I  knew  him  to-day.  I'll 
stake  my  life  that  that  boy  has  never  proved  recreant  to  past 
manhood  duty,  or  gone  back  on  early  promise  then  made. 
There  was  the  bloom  of  the  heroic,  soon  to  fructify  into 
fruitage,  the  crop  of  which  the  world  had  never  seen  and  will 
never  see  again.  The  chance  of  securing  reproduction  can 
never  recur.  Heaven  pity  posterity  in  its  inevitable  dearth 
of  such  heroes. 

A  few  days  after  the  surrender  we  were  transferred  to  the 
steamer  S.  R.  Spaulding  with  Fort  Warren  as  objective  point. 
But  through  the  efforts  of  General  Burnside,  who  impressed 
us  then  with  his  courtesy  and  soldierly  treatment,  as  he  did 
those  who  knew  him  after  the  war,  imprisonment  was 
changed  into  "parole."  Fortunately  for  the  Confederacy 
17  [  257  ] 


APPENDIX. 

later  on,  his  reach  of  requisite  for  the  chief  command  to 
which  he  was  assigned  against  the  greatest  soldier  of  his  age, 
fell  something  short.  But  better  far  than  the  reputation  of 
a  second-class  commander,  he  bore  "the  grand  old  name  of 
Gentleman."  The  writer  is  thus  pleased  to  acknowledge 
more  than  one  civility  received  at  his  hands,  including  an  ex- 
change of  body  servants,  his  and  mine,  the  first  being  then 
confined  at  Richmond.  Mine,  Guilford  Christmas,  was  with 
me  before  and  during  the  war  and  has  been  with  me  ever 
since,  a  faithful  servant  and  a  true  friend,  once  exchanged  as 
said,  and  later  escaping  after  a  second  capture.  Had  not 
racial  interdict  precluded  his  enlistment,  the  Confederacy 
would  have  had  few  more  devoted  servants,  for  his  heart  was 
in  it. 

The  disparity  of  force  in  this,  the  second  great  battle  of  the 
war,  was  too  great  to  admit  of  hope  for  the  weaker  after  the 
other  side  had  secured  a  foothold.  Col.  Shaw  gives  his  entire 
available  force,  exclusive  of  those  in  the  water  batteries  at 
1,434,  rank  and  file,  previous  to  the  arrival  of  my  own  and 
Major  Fry's  commands.  Loss  23  killed,  58  wounded,  62 
missing.  General  Burnside  puts  his,  not  counting  the  gun 
boats,  at  12,829,  loss  264.  To  make  the  disparity  the  greater 
they  were  commanded  by  educated  soldiers  like  Burnside, 
Foster,  Parke  and  Reno.  That  inequality  was  a  little  too 
much  so,  even  in  those  early  days,  when  to  paraphrase  Harry 
of  England,  some  did  "think  upon  one  pair  of  Southern  legs 
did  march  five  Yankees." 

Later  on,  and  after  better  acquaintance,  few  objected  to 
having  the  carrying  capacity  of  those  locomotors  reduced  to 
three  or  even  two  blue  coats. 

Eight  or  ten  to  one  was  out  of  all  reason. 

Some  seven  months  after  being  paroled  at  Elizabeth  City 
we  were  exchanged  and  the  battalion  ordered  to  rendezvous  at 
Drewry's  Bluff. 

Whilst  in  came  there  and  attached  to  Colonel  (later  Gen- 
eral) Daniel's  brigade,  a  petition  was  set  afoot  looking  to  a 
re-organization.  Although  opposed  to  it  on  principle  as  cal- 
culated to  introduce  politics  into  camp,  and  although  from 
the  peculiar  constitution  of   this   command,    it   could   have 

[  258  ] 


APPENDIX. 


been  avoided,  nevertheless,  when  it  became  obvious  that  such 
was  the  desire  of  a  number  of  the  officers,  no  obstruction  was 
interposed  on  my  part.  The  consequence  was  that  I  was 
superseded  as  commanding  officer  by  Capt.  W.  H.  Wheeler, 
who,  however,  resigned  a  few  days  thereafter,  thus  devolving 
the  command  on  Major  Andrews  (promoted  to  Lieutenant- 
Colonel). 

Shortly  after,  about  the  first  of  January,  1863,  the  bri- 
gade was  ordered  to  Goldsboro,  1ST.  C,  in  anticipation  of  a 
forward  move  by  the  enemy.  I  went  there  at  once  to  volun- 
teer, but  was  told  by  General  Daniel  that  I  would  be  enrolled 
on  his  staff  as  a  supernumerary  or  volunteer  aide  until  some- 
thing in  the  line  should  turn  up.  Thence,  shortly  after,  the 
brigade  was  ordered  to  Kinston,  where  it  remained  until  17th 
of  May,  1863,  when  it  was  moved  upon  the  Rappahannock. 

Whilst  in  camp  at  Kinston  we  were,  by  General  D.  H. 
Hill's  orders,  moved  down  the  right  side  of  the  Xeuse,  Petti- 
grew's  brigade  keeping  abreast  on  the  other  with  the  object  in 
view  of  taking  ISTew  Bern  by  surprise.  Daniel's  advance, 
after  reaching  a  point  contiguous  to  that  place,  was  subject  to 
gun  signal  from  the  co-operating  column  upon  capture  of  the 
gun  boats  on  that  side  of  the  river.  These,  however,  got  up 
steam  in  time  to  prevent  capture,  and  so  the  attempt  fell 
through. 

General  Hill  next  attempted  the  capture  of  Washington, 
which  was  represented  as  being  short  of  provisions  and  sup- 
plies. A  battery,  Fort  Hill,  was  planted  below  the  town  to 
prevent  relief  by  the  gunboats.  Whilst  here  Generals  Hill, 
Daniel,  Robertson  and  myself  rode  over  to  the  fort  to  take  in 
the  situation.  The  gunboats  were  anchored  some  two  or 
three  miles  off,  just  out  of  reach  of  our  pop  guns,  and  had 
kept  up  an  incessant  fusillade  on  the  garrison  for  a  day  or 
two  previous  without  doing  any  harm.  Before,  however,  we 
had  been  in  there  fifteen  minutes,  I  was  knocked  down  by  a 
ten-pound  piece  of  shell. 

About  the  middle  of  June,  1863,  our  division,  Rodes', 
broke  camp  at  Hamilton's  crossing,  a  few  miles  from  Freder- 
icksburg, and  started,  whither  few  knew,  but  many  surmised. 
At  the  time  the  Second  Battalion  was  attached  to  this  superb 

[259] 


APPENDIX. 

brigade,  it  was  composed  of  the  Thirty-second,  Forty-third, 
Forty-fifth  and  Fifty-third  Regiments,  which  continued  in- 
tact until  the  end  of  the  war.  On  arrival  in  Virginia  it  was 
assigned  to  Major-General  R.  E.  Rodes'  division,  composed 
of  the  following  other  brigades,  viz :  Ramseur's  North  Caro- 
lina, Iverson's  North  Carolina,  and  Dole's  Georgia,  and  no 
better  division  was  there  in  any  army.  Most  fortunate  were 
we  in  brigade  and  divisional  commanders.  Both  Rodes  and 
Daniel  were  born  soldiers,  and  both  died  on  the  field  of 
battle  in  glorious  discharge  of  duty.  The  division  was  in 
E well's  corps.  On  Daniel's  death  Bryan  Grimes  became  his 
worthy  successor  and  later  on  the  successor  of  the  lamented 
Rodes. 

At  Brandy  Station,  on  the ,  became  aware  that  a 

fight  was  going  on  in  front.  Were  hastily  formed  and  moved 
forward  to  the  point,  upon  nearing  which  General  Lee  in 
person  met  General  Daniel  and  told  him  that  he  was  to  keep 
his  command  concealed  under  the  brow  of  a  hill  except  upon 
emergency,  as  it  was  a  cavalry  fight  and  he  didn't  wish  the 
enemy  to  learn  that  he  was  on  the  move.  Shortly  after  met 
the  corpse  of  my  old  Colonel,  Sol.  Williams,  being  brought 
out  on  horseback  by  his  brother-in-law,  Lieutenant  Pegram. 
He  was  shot  through  the  forehead,  and  Pegram  told  us  that 
Gen.  B.  F.  Davis  had  just  been  killed  on  the  other  side  by  the 
self-same  wound.  He  and  I  were  classmates  and  close  friends 
at  West  Point,  and  yet  his  death  reached  me  without  a  pang 
of  regret,  for  he  was  fighting  under  the  wrong  flag,  being  a 
Mississippian. 

Gallant  Sol.  Williams  had  only  been  married  a  week  or  two 
to  the  daughter  of  Captain  Pegram,  who  won  lasting  honor 
in  the  Confederate  States  ISTavy.  Singular  coincidence  her 
cousin  and  another  old  classmate  of  mine,  Gen.  John  Pegram, 
was  killed  in  front  of  Petersburg  after  the  same  brief  nup- 
tials. He  married  the  beautiful  and  brilliant  Hettie  Cary, 
of  Baltimore. 

Gen.  J.  E.  B.  Stuart  (another  classmate),  repulsed  the 
enemy  that  day  after  a  hard  day's  fight,  although  he  had  been 
taken  by  surprise  in  the  morning.  He  too  was  killed  later 
on  in  front  of  Richmond.     Here  let  it  be  remarked,  by  way 

[260] 


APPENDIX. 

of  parenthesis,  that  nine  out  of  twelve  of  that  glorious  class 
(that  of  1850),  who  espoused  our  side,  were  killed  in  battle, 
all  with  one  exception,  wearing  the  insignia  of  General. 
Stuart,  Pender,  Gracie,  Pegrani,  Deshler,  Villipique,  Mercer, 
Randall  and  one  other  whose  name  now  escapes  me.  Was 
there  ever  a  nobler  holocaust  of  young  heroes  on  the  altar  of 
patriotism,  each  thirty  or  thereabouts  ?  Generals  Stephen 
D.  Lee  and  Custis  Lee  are  the  sole  survivors  as  far  as  I  am 
able  to  ascertain. 

From  Brandy  the  division  moved  on  towards  the  Poto- 
mac, passing  through  Front  Royal,  Winchester  and  Berry- 
ville.  At  the  last  place  came  near  capturing  Brute  Milroy 
and  his  entire  force,  but  with  the  coward's  instinct  he  saved 
his  vile  neck  by  precipitate  flight.  He  was  one  of  the  three 
who  were  made  infamously  immortal  by  Confederate  Execu- 
tive mandate  that  they  were  not  to  be  accorded  the  rights  of 
prisoners  of  war  if  captured.  Beast  Butler  and  Turchin,  the 
barbarian,  were  the  two  others.  Let  the  triumvirate  of  gold- 
laced  felons  stand  pilloried  where  they  were  put,  in  the  scorn 
of  all  true  soldiers  through  all  time  to  come,  to  teach  would- 
be  imitators  that  wars  must  henceforth  be  conducted  by  gen- 
erous and  humane  rules  instead  of  barbaric.  Moving  on 
through  Martinsburg  we  forded  the  river  at  Williamsport 
and  camped  a  couple  of  days  at  Hagerstown,  Md.  Thence 
on  to  Greencastle,  Pa.,  where  there  was  another  halt  for  a 
day.  Thence  to  Carlisle,  where  we  took  possession  of  the 
government  barracks. 

The  next  day  (Sunday)  the  flag  pole,  which  had  been  cut 
down  by  the  enemy,  was  replaced  and  the  '"Stars  and  Bars" 
wafted  to  the  breeze. 

June  30 tli  made  an  early  start  and  a  forced  march  to  Heid- 
elberg, eleven  miles  short  of  Gettysburg.  The  next  morning, 
bright  and  early,  started  again.  Had  proceeded  but  a  short 
distance  when  the  opening  g*uns  of  that  momentous  conflict 
fell  upon  the  ear.  On  arrival  were  deployed  in  line  of  battle 
in  a  skirt  of  woods.  The  enemy  at  once  began  to  shell  us. 
General  Daniel  ordered  the  brigade  to  lie  down  until  ready  to 
advance.  Whilst  he  and  I  were  standing  just  in  front  of  the 
Second  Battalion  holding  our  horses,  a  shell  exploded  in  a 

[261] 


APPENDIX. 

few  feet  to  the  left,  killing  and  wounding  nine  men.  Prob- 
ably no  one  missile  occasioned  more  loss  to  life  during  the 
war.  A  little  later  the  men  were  ordered  to  rise  and  ad- 
vance. The  enemy  were  some  five  or  six  hundred  yards  in 
front,  and  results  showed  had  set  a  most  deadly  trap  for  us. 
When  half  way  between  our  starting  point  and  their  line, 
were  ordered  to  lie  down  whilst  our  guns  in  the  rear  played 
on  their  ranks.  Then  rose  and  charged  to  the  brink  of  the 
deep  cut  of  the  railroad,  beyond  which  at  some  hundred 
paces  the  enemy  were  drawn  up  in  line. 

The  men  in  their  ardor  slid  down  the  almost  precipitous 
bank  and  attempted  to  scale  the  opposite,  but  to  no  effect. 
An  enfilading  battery  to  our  right  then  opened,  sweeping  "the 
cut"  with  terrible  effect.  Suggesting  to  Colonel  Brabble,  the 
senior  officer,  to  face  to  the  left  and  clear  the  gap,  I  scrambled 
to  the  top  and  got  one  shot  at  the  advancing  foe  with  a  musket 
taken  from  a  sick  boy  at  the  start,  with  whom  my  horse  was 
left.  Believe  it  was  with  effect,  as  it  caused  a  pause  in  the 
line  behind  and  delayed  a  down-pouring  fire  until  we  got  out 
of  that  horrible  hole.  As  soon  as  it  was  done  the  men  who 
had  behaved  like  veterans  so  far,  became  temporarily  demor- 
alized. Then  it  was  that  the  soldier  loomed  up  and  plucked 
the  flower  safely  out  of  the  nettle  danger.  Junius  Daniel  is 
the  man  referred  to.  In  his  stentorian  tones,  audible  in 
command  a  quarter  of  a  mile  or  more  away,  he  ordered  the 
men  to  halt  and  reform  on  him.  This  they  did  without  re- 
gard to  company  or  regimental  formation  almost  to  a  man, 
advanced  at  once  and  inflicted  a  loss  on  the  enemy,  from  all 
accounts  greater  than  that  which  they  had  just  sustained. 
A  sublime  picture  of  heroism  that,  on  the  part  of  commander 
and  command. 

Just  then  I  was  knocked  down  by  a  wound  in  the  head  and 
had  to  go  back  to  the  field  hospital.  Here  the  scene  was 
sickening  in  the  extreme.  By  sundown,  hundreds  of  wounded 
had  arrived,  and  the  horrid  work  of  amputation  was  going 
briskly  on.  Here  I  pause  to  pay  brief  tribute  to  an  unpreten- 
tious hero  who  did  his  duty  as  grandly  as  any  other  on  that 
bloody  field,  although  his  only  weapons  were  scalpel,  saw  and 
bandage.     Though  Daniel's  brigade  had  the  largest  wounded 

[262] 


APPENDIX. 

list  of  any  other  at  Gettysburg,  the  surgical  staff  was  some- 
thing short  that  day.  But  there  was  one  who  was  a  host  in 
himself.  For  three  days  and  nights,  with  coat  off  and 
sleeves  rolled  up,  I  do  not  think  Dr.  Frank  Patterson,  my 
old  surgeon,  then  brigade  surgeon,  relaxed  in  his  bloody  work 
of  mercy  half  an  hour  at  a  time.  If  he  closed  his  eyes  in 
sleep  during  that  dread  ordeal  it  escaped  my  observation,  al- 
though in  thirty  feet  and  full  view  of  the  operating  table. 

"The  glorious  Fourth"  was  a  fateful  day,  not  only  for 
that  glorious  army,  but  for  the  cause,  for  far  away  Vicks- 
burg,  the  key  of  the  Mississippi,  had  fallen. 

The  retreat  began  in  regular  order  on  that  day.  Capt. 
Wan.  R.  Bond,  of  General  Daniel's  staff,  now  of  Scotland 
Neck,  likewise  wounded,  and  myself,  were  assigned  to  a  one- 
horse  wagon  driven  by  Guilford.  The  wounded  train  was 
tacked  on  to  a  part  of  the  ordnance.  That  night,  having  to 
pass  through  a  long  defile,  it  was  subjected  to  an  annoying 
fire  from  above.  Kilpatrick's  division,  having  ridden  ahead 
and  taken  position  on  each  bank  of  the  road.  This  doughty 
hero  should  have  been  cashiered  for  not  capturing  that  entire 
train,  for  it  was  only  guarded  by  two  squadrons  of  cavalry. 
As  it  was,  he  only  took  some  thirty  or  forty  ambulances  and 
ordnance  wagons. 

Shortly  after  getting  through  the  deep  cut  of  the  road  our 
little  mounted  escort  broke  and  went  to  the  head  of  the  train. 
An  ordnance  wagon  loaded  with  old  guns,  took  off  one  of  our 
rear  wheels  in  trying  to  pass,  and  before  Bond  and  I  could 
pick  ourselves  up,  a  dozen  revolvers  were  bearing  on  us.  It 
was  then  that  volubility  told.  Guilford  with  a  flow  of  words 
unparalleled  in  his  speech  before  or  since  convinced  the  gen- 
tleman on  horseback  that,  "we  surrender,  we  are  prisoners, 
for  God's  sake  don't  shoot."  Believing  that  the  entire  ord- 
nance train  was  lost  and  all  lost  with  it,  it  is  within  bounds 
to  say  that  his  impromptu  eloquence  elicited  but  scant  thanks 
from  either  of  the  two  "prisoners." 

Thence  were  carried  to  the  hospital  at  Frederick,  from 
there  to  Fort  McHenry,  thence  to  Fort  Delaware  for  a  while 
and  from  there  to  Johnson's  Island  in  Lake  Erie,  which  con- 
tinued to  be  the  residence  of  most  of  the  officers  until  near 

[263] 


APPENDIX. 

the  surrender.  My  cartel  was,  I  believe,  the  last  one  antece- 
dent thereto.  Many  projects  for  wholesale  escape  had  been 
formed  during  our  imprisonment,  but  were  always  frustrated 
by  some  secret  spy  or  cowardly  informer. 

But  to  return  to  the  2nd  North  Carolina  Battalion  at  Get- 
tysburg. It  fell  short  of  a  full  regiment,  and  yet  it's  doubt- 
ful whether  any  full  regiment  in  that  matchless  army  sus- 
tained the  loss  in  killed  and  wounded  that  it  did.  One  hun- 
dred and  fifty-three  is  authenticated  record.  Perhaps  it  is 
better  to  give  an  excerpt  from  a  letter  received  from  Maj.  H. 
A.  London,  later  on  A.  A.  G.,  of  the  brigade,  bearing  thereon. 

*  *  "The  2nd  Battalion  at  Gettysburg  had  more  men 
killed  and  wounded  than  any  full  regiment  in  Pickett's  di- 
vision. It's  killed  was  29  (including  it's  commander,  Lieut. 
Col.  Andrews)  and  wounded  124.  The  57th  Virginia  regi- 
ment had  26  killed  and  95  wounded,  which  was  the  heaviest 
mortality  of  any  of  Pickett's  regiments.  Maj.  James  Iredell, 
who  took  command  after  Andrews'  death,  was  killed  at  Spott- 
sylvania,  where  the  battalion  was  nearly  all  captured,  killed 
or  wounded.  I  do  not  think  any  field  officer  commanded  the 
battalion  after  Iredell's  death.  It  remained  with  Daniel's 
brigade  until  the  end,  but  I  do  not  know  it's  number  at  Ap- 
pomattox— a  mere  handful,  however.  It  was  a  noble  band 
and  shared  fully  in  all  the  glory  of  Daniel's  (afterwards 
Grimes')  brigade.     *  *  *    Yours  truly,  H.  A.  London." 

It  was  not  my  proud  privilege  to  command  it  in  that  dread 
baptism  of  blood.  I  was  only  a  musket-bearer  in  it's  ranks  that 
day,  but  it  did  my  heart  none  the  less  good  to  see  how  grandly 
the  children  of  my  nurture,  knew  how  to  die  for  cause  and 
country. 

Whilst  it  has  been  shown  above  that  I  was  no  stickler  for 
rank  throughout  the  mighty  struggle,  I  may  nevertheless  be 
pardoned  for  statement  bearing  on  it. 

Only  some  six  weeks  before  his  death,  ex-President  Davis 
told  me,  in  the  presence  of  his  wife  and  youngest  daughter  in 
his  home  at  Beauvoir,  that  as  soon  as  he  heard  of  my  return 
from  prison  he  sent  in  my  nomination  to  the  Senate  for  a 
Bigadier  General's  commission,  and  presumed  it  had  been  con- 
firmed. He  supposed,  however,  that  in  the  confusion  of  the  last 

[264] 


APPENDIX. 

few  days  preceding  the  evacuation  of  Richmond,  it  had,  like 
many  other  matters,  been  overlooked. 

This  was  subsequently  confirmed  in  a  letter  from  Mrs. 
Davis,  with  additional  details.  The  incident  is  mentioned 
more  in  satisfaction  of  the  good  opinion  of  that  grand  man, 
the  central  figure  of  that  historic  epoch,  than  out  of  regard  for 
an  empty  title,  which  per  se  is  not  valued  at  a  pinch  of  snuff. 

Pertinent  thereto,  another  statement  is  ventured  which 
must  be  taken  on  faith,  as  he  who  made  it  is  no  longer  in  the 
flesh.  On  the  road  one  day  General  Daniel  told  me  that 
just  after  the  reorganization,  the  President  asked  him  if  he 
would  not  advise  setting  aside  the  election  and  restoring  me 
to  the  command,  as  it  was  primarily  an  executive  appointment 
instead  of  by  election.  Daniel's  reply  was,  "Not  to  that  com- 
mand, as  the  event  however  injudicious  validates  the  change ; 
but  I  will  most  cheerfully  recommend  him  for  the  first  vacant 
regiment  or  brigade  either  at  your  disposal." 

WHARTON  J.  GREEN, 
First  Lieut.  Col.  Commanding, 

2nd   Battalion. 


Address  on  General  Robert  Ransom,  Delivered  Before  the 
Ladies  Memorial  Association,  May  10,  1899. 

Ladies    of   the    Memorial    Association,    Old    Comrades    and 
Friends : 

I  thank  you  most  cordially  for  the  honor  done  me  to-day 
in  bidding  me  to  talk  to  you  of  my  honored  friend  and  kins- 
man, Gen.  Robert  Ransom.  This  trust  could  doubtless  have 
been  confided  to  far  abler  hands.  To  none,  however,  surpassing 
him  selected  in  love  and  admiration  for  this  truly  great 
soldier  and  upright  gentleman. 

Sever  years  ago  to-day  the  same  duty  devolved  on  me 
through  the  partiality  of  your  sister  society  of  ISTewbern, 
where  he  had  lived  and  passed  his  closing  hours.  Hence,  of 
necessity,  I  am  forced  to  draw  freely  upon  the  address  then 
delivered,  even  to  literal  reproduction  of  many  parts.  This 
has  been  rendered  the  more  imperative  by  a  severe  and  pro- 
tracted case  of  the  grippe  almost  ever  since  your  summons 

[265] 


APPENDIX. 

reached  me.  Hence,  I  crave  allowance  for  all  short-comings 
to-day,  for  I  must  draw  on  manuscript  more  than  memory 
likewise. 

Here  is  the  opening  on  that  occasion:  "Four  years  ago 
on  this  recurring  anniversary,"  hallowed  to  patriotism  and 
heroic  memories,  your  orator  was  he  whose  eulogy  by  your 
bidding  devolves  on  me  to-day.  He  gave  you  graphic  pic- 
tures and  panoramic  of  one  of  the  grandest  and  most  melo- 
dramic  battles  that  history  will  be  ever  called  on  to  record. 
Charles  Lever,  by  common  consent  of  military  critics,  has 
given  in  his  great  novel,  O'Malley,  the  finest  description  of 
Waterloo  ever  published. 

Your  townsman,  General  Ransom,  portrayed  on  occasion 
referred  to,  the  field  of  Fredericksburg,  rivaling  in  pomp, 
panoply  and  numericals  the  other,  in  words  scarce  less  befit- 
ting. 

That  he  was  a  war  actor  the  world  knew.  That  he  was  a 
war  artist  his  single,  effort  proved.  Such  was  Csesar,  actor 
and  artist. 

Where  heroes  pass  the  bourne,  their  people,  if  worthy  to 
have  heroes,  ever  pay  them  suitable  tribute.  Correlative 
thereto,  the  race  that  fails  therein,  rarely  produces  the  gen- 
uine article.  ~No  account  is  taken  of  the  nickel-plated  or 
"Brumagetnized"  specimen,  the  mere  throat-cutter  on  ex- 
tended scale.  Slavish  barbarians  can  evolve  such  as  these,  as 
witness  Genghis,  Atilla,  Alva  and  Tamerlane.  But  the  true, 
genuine  broad-gauged  world-recognized  hero  is  the  almost  ex- 
clusive development  of  free  born  men  and  women. 

Great  races  and  critical  junctures  beget  great  men  who 
adorn  their  epochs  and  honor  humanity.  Most  prolific  of 
all  in  such  product  was  the  seven  hilled  city  on  the  Tiber, 
and  long  centuries  later  on,  the  little  island  with  wooden 
walls  and  her  first  great  trans-oceanic  off-shoot.  Those  races 
inherently  great  beyond  all  others  in  past  and  present  times, 
raised  brainy  thinkers  and  brawny  but  gentle  actors,  who 
taught  and  illustrated  how  to  govern  others  and  the  far  higher 
lesson  for  free  people,  how  to  govern  themselves.  Such 
teacher  and  actor  combined  in  one  is  the  quintessence  of  god- 
like heroism. 

[266] 


APPENDIX. 

Of  such,  where  can  higher  type  and  more  frequent  be  found 
in  any  era  than  in  the  Confederate  armies  ?  Take,  forsooth, 
as  highest  illustration,  Davis,  Lee,  and  Sidney  Johnston,  our 
three  ranking  leaders.  Triumvirate  of  Immortals,  without 
flaw  or  speck !  Individually  never  surpassed,  collectively 
never  equalled  in  any  war  by  mortals  waged  in  attribute  here 
outlined.  Legitimate  praise  must  needs  sound  fulsome  to 
those  who  knew  them  not,  and  all  panegvric  tame  to  those  who 
did. 

Genius  coupled  with  gentleness,  self-assertion  with  modest 
claim,  loftiest  ambition  with  humanity,  flawless  record  with 
tempting  opportunity,  sublime  faith  with  unflagging  zeal, 
and  every  impulse  subordinate  to  patriotic  end,  constituted 
fitness  in  the  highest  for  highest  command.  Let  it  content  us 
in  defeat,  my  brothers,  that  the  cause  by  them  espoused  will 
be  gauged  in  history  by  their  exalted  standard.  "Causa  vic- 
trix  placuit  deis,  sed  victa  Catoni."  Observe  in  like  connec- 
tion Jackson,  the  superb,  grandest  lieutenant  that  ever  cap- 
tain had,  and  his  brother  Hill,  cast  in  kindred  mould ;  that 
stern  inflexible  brace  of  old  Ironsides,  who  had  implicit  faith 
in  Providence  and  Presbyterianism,  dry  powder  and  cold 
steel,  and  could  not  realize  that  soldiers  could  die  before 
their  time  had  come.  It  would  seem  that  they  had  interpo- 
lated another  tenet  in  the  articles  of  the  church  militant : 
namely,  dying  for  cause  and  country  and  liberty  is  a  no  mean 
atonement  for  duties  undone. 

Such  has  ever  been  a  conquering  creed  for  under-sized 
armies,  deficient  alike  in  numbers  and  resources.  It  made 
the  camel  driver  of  Mecca,  the  prophet,  the  law-giver,  the 
master  of  the  Eastern  world.  It  made  Huntingdon's  brewer 
the  most  renowned  and  respected  potentate  of  his  time,  and 
who  ennobled  as  only  one  had  done  the  kingly  place  he  held. 
It  enabled  the  adventurer,  Cortez,  with  a  few  score  followers, 
to  subjugate  a  nation  of  millions.  And  so  the  embattled  host, 
urged  on  faith  in  God  and  duty  to  man,  is  well  nigh  in- 
vincible until  by  attrition  annihilation  follows.  The  eight 
thousand  guns  grounded  at  Appomattox  is  eternal  proof  of 
the  dictum  laid  down. 

Brief  retrospect  of  a  few  others  of  our  typical  heroes,  and 

[267] 


APPENDIX. 

we  pass  on  to  the  subject  of  our  text.  The  entire  roster 
could  scarce  be  called  between  "the  rising  of  the  new  moon 
and  the  going  down  of  the  same,  at  the  end  of  its  course," 
for  from  the  modest  President  to  the  jocund  drummer  boy, 
it  was  an  army  of  heroes.  Take  the  two  fighting  parsons, 
for  instance.  Hear  them  at  critical  junctures  in  the  hour 
of  battle  and  you  have  the  animus  of  those  glorious  legions. 
"Hold  your  position,  General  Cheatham,  for  it  is  the  key 
of  the  line,"  exclaims  Bishop  General  Polk  a  brief  space  be- 
fore his  lamented  fall:  "hold  it  though  it  cost  every  man  in 
your  command."  "Can't  promise,  General,"  was  the  jocular 
retort,  "since  youVe  made  me  promise  to  give  up  cuss  words. 
Since  I  have,  these  boys  of  mine  don't  fight  a  bit  better  than 
blue  coats." 

"Speak  to  them  to-day  in  your  own  emphatic  way,  Cheat- 
ham, but  hold  your  part  of  the  line,"  was  the  parting  in- 
junction, or  at  least  it  was  so  reported. 

"Take  good  aim,  my  men,  before  pulling  the  lanyard,"  is  the 
caution  of  the  grave  old  artillerist,  brother  Pendleton,  "and 
may  the  Lord  have  mercy  on  their  souls." 

On  this  occasion  for  obvious  reason  we  pass  the  most  su- 
perb infantry  that  the  world  has  ever  known  or  is  likely  ever 
to  know.  God  bless  them,  they  fought  on  the  plane  of  demi- 
gods and  like  demi-gods,  and  make  our  salaam  to  the  cavalry. 
I  give  you  a  fancied  review  of  our  horse-back  heroes  in  the 
mythic  shades  of  Walhalla. 

There's  Stuart,  the  noblest  of  the  line  of  kings,  whose 
name  and  blood  he  bears,  replete  with  piety,  patriotism  and 
school-boy  fun,  who  to  well  laid  plans  loved  a  fight  for  right 
as  he  did  a  frolic.  If  claim  to  kinship  there  was  with  Scot- 
land's kings,  the  knightly  Rupert,  who  towered  above  them 
all,  must  have  been  in  lineal  progenitor.  Farewell,  "Old 
Beauty" ;  good-bye,  " Jeb,"  old  friend  and  classmate. 

And  there  rides  one  unskilled  in  schools  and  hence  could 
never  master  the  definition  of  the  word  defeat.  His  name  is 
Forrest.  By  concensus  of  opinion  of  most  approved  military 
critics  of  neutral  nations  the  grandest  leader  of  horsemen 
in  the  annals  of  all  antecedent  times.  A  rough  rider  they  say 
but  by  my  troth  courtly.     His  theory  of  war  may  be  crude. 

[268] 


APPENDIX. 

but  it  has  ever  proved  Napoleonic:  "I  make  it  a  point  to 
fight  the  enemy  wherever  I  find  it  and  try  and  get  the  most 
men  there  first."  Doff  your  cap  Murat,  Marshal  of  France 
and  King  of  Naples,  and  discard  your  golden  spurs  and 
cockney  feathers,  for  hence  on  you  ride  behind  that  untutored 
son  of  Genius. 

And  there's  Hampton,  he  hasn't  forded  the  dark  river  yet. 
God  grant  the  day  be  far  distant;  and  hence  to  spare  his 
blushes  we  must  needs  be  chary  of  praise.  But  truly  hath 
he  ridden  well  unless  universal  report  belie  him.  By  birth- 
right and  by  right  of  self-made  good,  no  Bayard  e'er  bore 
prouder  and  more  spotless  front. 

Political  ingratitude  may  hurl  its  puny  shafts  at  such  an 
one  as  did  the  little  men  in  Lilliput,  theirs  at  Captain  Gul- 
liver, but  the  muse  of  history  has  him  enrolled  amongst  the 
world's  foremost  and  most  unselfish  cavaliers. 

And  there  goes  Wheeler,  little  fighting  Joe.  He  too,  was 
a  marked  hero  in  "the  war  between  the  States,"  and  later 
on  he  came  out  as  the  hero  of  another  war.  Too  big  is  he, 
little  as  he  looks,  for1  the  "standing  army."  He  once  wore 
a  gray  coat. 

And  here  is  a  pair  of  old  "Web  Foots"  who  must  not  be 
forgotten,  although  out  of  place  in  the  "critter  company." 
But  that  makes  no  odds.  Doff  hats,  heroes,  all  of  every  arm, 
to  the  brace  of  old  "Pirates,"  as  they  were  insultingly  dubbed 
by  that  great  power  whose  world-reaching  commerce  wilted 
at  their  mandate  more  effectually  than  did  that  of  Spain  at 
the  bidding  of  their  predecessors  in  patriotic  piracy — Drake, 
Raleigh  and  Hawkins.  Aye,  hail,  thrice  hail  "Alabama"  and 
"Shenandoah!"  Raphael^ Semmes  and  "Tar  Heel"  Waddell ! 
Such  names  as  these  almost  make  "piracy"  respectable,  as 
those  just  mentioned  did  "rebellion !" 

These  old  sea  birds  did  swim  in  every  sea,  and  lit  them  up 
with  their  pyrotechnics  in  their  two  little  boats  with  a  fancied 
broom  for  penant,  despite  the  prohibitory  veto  of  hostile 
navies.  Yes,  pull  ashore,  old  "Tarpauliens,"  and  ride  with 
these  old  heroes  who  were  born  on  horseback. 

Brothers  o'er  the  harbor,  these  be  a  few  of  our  honored 
leaders.     Soldiers  all  they  were  in  high   degree,  but  more 

[269] 


APPENDIX. 


than  mere  soldiers — gentlemen.  We  do  not  challenge  compet- 
itive claim,  but  defy  detraction.  In  that  galaxy  of  immortals, 
few  won  more  enviable  fame  in  successive  grade  than  did 
Robert  Ransom.  He  was  born  and  reared  in  Warren  county, 
North  Carolina,  long  anterior  thereto  and  thence  on  until 
the  war,  the  recognized  home  of  refinement  and  hospitality. 
Her  reputation  in  that  regard  extended  far  beyond  State 
borders.  Whilst  there  was  perhaps  more  average  wealth 
per  capita  than  in  any  other  county  in  the  State,  its  posses- 
sion was  rarely  accompanied  by  vulgar  assumption.  Educa- 
tion, refinement  and  culture  were  unquestioned  passports  to 
every  circle.  It  was  the  privilege  of  the  speaker  to  have  his 
lot  cast  amongst  that  generous  people  in  middle  boyhood,  and 
thence  on  with  interruptions  to  the  present  time ;  and  he  hesi- 
tates not  to  say  that  for  the  beautiful  traits  named,  he  has, 
after  extended  travel  and  close  observation,  never  known  the 
country  community  that  surpassed  if  equalled  it. 

Whilst,  as  said,  there  was  wealth  there  for  that  day  and  a 
rural  population,  Bob  Ransom  was  not  one  of  the  boys  who 
was  "born  with  a  silver  spoon  in  his  mouth."  Perhaps,  as 
conducive  to  the  proud  name  and  fame  he  left,  quite  the 
reverse.  His  ancestors  were  of  the  very  first  who  settled 
that  part  of  our  State  and  had  lived  in  style,  but  open  doors 
and  open-handed  welcome  had  reduced  his  own  and  many 
collateral  branches  of  his  house  to  scant  means  of  continuing 
that  mode  of  living ;  but  still  the  latch  string  was  ever  on  the 
outside  of  his  father's  door.  To  the  credit  of  both  be  it  said 
he  and  his  illustrious  brother  Matt,  who  served  four  terms 
in  the  United  States  Senate,  and  prouder  still,  four  years 
in  the  fight  between  the  States  and  with  a  proud  war  record, 
and  diplomatic  besides,  had  to  contribute  by  manual  labor 
on  the  farm  in  intervals  from  desultory  schooling,  to  main- 
tain that  unpretentious  but  hereditary  hospitality. 

His  father  was  Robert  Ransom,  Sr.,  and  his  mother  Pris- 
cilia  Whitaker  by  birth,  likewise  of  the  illustrious  Carey 
stock.  His  grandfather,  Seymour  Ransom,  married  Birchett, 
the  daughter  of  William  Green,  one  of  the  most  successful 
planters  and  remarkable  men  of  the  South.  His  paternal 
great-grand-father  was  James  Ransom  and  his  wife  Priscilla, 

[270] 


APPENDIX. 

born  Jones,  the  daughter  of  Edward  Jones  and  his  wife, 
Abigail  Sugan. 

This  last  named  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  women 
of  the  last  century  or  any  preceding  century,  and  is  better 
known  to  her  thousands,  aye,  tens  of  thousand  descendants 
as  "Grand-mother  Cook."  (Her  second  husband  was  named 
Cook.)  She  was  a  woman  of  marked  traits  of  character,  who 
left  her  impress  upon  succeeding  generations  of  her  posterity, 
and  a  more  distinguished  progeny  than  man  or  woman  prob- 
ably ever  did  whose  death  is  within  a  century.  Governors 
and  law-makers  and  law  consructers,  soldiers  and  divines 
of  high  degree  have  through  all  that  time  been  proud  to  claim 
that  barefoot,  unsophisticated  pioneer  girl  as  a  most  illus- 
trious fountain-head  of  their  stocks.  Priscilla,  her  daughter, 
first  married  Colonel  Macon  and  was  the  mother  of  North 
Carolina's  most  distinguished  son,  Nathaniel,  of  that  name. 
It  will  thus  be  seen  that  General  Ransom's  great  grand-father 
was  the  step-father  of  that  inflexible  old  Roman,  Nathaniel 
Macon,  whose  name  is  revered  and  honored  wherever  known. 

Mr.  Macon  was  his  great  uncle  through  his  paternal  as  he 
was  likewise  through  his  grand  maternal  side  of  the  house, 
and  most  striking  were  their  traits  in  common.  Neither  knew 
the  virtue  in  the  world  policy;  neither  would  have  Neptune 
for  his  trident  or  Jove  for  his  power  to  thunder ;  neither 
would  have  relaxed  in  sense  of  duty  to  win  the  acclaim  of 
others,  in  order  to  lead  Senates  or  armies  or  to  win  the  civic 
crown  or  supreme  command.  As  Old  Tom  Carlyle  might 
have  expressed  it,  they  were  a  brace  of  sturdy,  duty-loving 
men,  who  could  not  be  swayed  or  swerved  from  settled  con- 
viction of  right  by  patronage  from  above  or  plaudit  from 
below.  Duty  was  the  text  of  each  through  life;  his  life,  the 
sermon. 

General  Ransom's  preliminary  education  was  obtained  at 
the  Warrenton  Academy,  necessitating  a  walk  of  three  or 
four  miles  a  day  each  way,  not  to  speak  of  incidental  exercise 
at  home.  His  teacher  was  "old  Bob  Ezell,"  familiarly  so 
known.  A  ripe  scholar  he  was,  who  believed  in  hickory  and 
the  high  classics,  and  instilled  the  last  by  a  free  application 
of  the  first.    It  was  a  cruel  system,  as  I  for  one  can  feelingly 

[271] 


APPENDIX. 

certify,  that  under  which  we  old  boys  of  that  day  were  in- 
doctrinated in  the  ''Humanities."  Heaven  save  the  mark! 
It  may  well  be  questioned,  however,  whether  its  entire  sub- 
version or  substitution  by  the  new  fangied  "fad"  called  moral 
suasion  is  conducive  to  a  higher  order  of  manhood.  The 
proof  is  on  the  boys  of  the  last  and  rising  generation  and 
others  to  follow  to  adduce. 

From  the  village  school  he  was  transferred  to  the  United 
States  Military  Academy  in  1846,  and  the  transition  was  not 
a  feather-bed  by  comparison.  Four  years  later  he  left  that 
nursery  of  heroes  as  a  brevet  second-lieutenant  in  the  First 
Dragoons.  His  class  standing  was  good,  ordinary  only  in 
the  academic  curriculum,  but  according  to  the  old  Scythian 
standard  of  liberal  education  there  was  none  above  him.  "He 
knew  how  to  ride,  to  shoot  and  to  speak  and  to  act  the  truth." 
None  stood  higher  for  these  and  other  high  qualities  than  did 
this  modest  gentleman,  as  I  well  know  who  entered  the  school 
as  he  was  leaving  it  and  know  the  name  he  left  behind.  By 
the  way,  he  wrote  me  a  long  letter  of  advice  before  my  matric- 
ulation, such  as  an  older  brother  might  be  supposed  to  have 
penned  on  the  occasion  to  a  younger.  The  gist  of  it  as  now 
recalled,  was  obedience  to  constituted  authority  as  the  basic 
and  essential  element  of -a  military  life;  regard  for  the  rights 
of  your  fellows,  coupled  with  a  reasonable  self-assertion  of 
your  own,  and  avoidance  of  all  low  dissipation. 

His  branch  of  the  service,  the  mounted,  was  stationed  al- 
most exclusively  in  the  far  west,  in  order  to  hold  the  Indians 
in  check,  at  that  day  constantly  on  the  verge  of  outbreak  when 
not  in  actual  hostility.  In  that  then  remote  quarter  the  next 
ten  years  of  his  life  was  almost  continuously  passed  in  hard 
but  inglorious  service.  Nevertheless  it  was  a  fit  school  of 
preparation  for  the  mighty  struggle  then  impending.  He 
had  just  attained  in  the  line  of  promotion,  a  rapid  rise  to  the 
coveted  commission  of  Captain,  having  married  his  first  wife 
in  the  meantime  and  had  children  born  to  him.  Then  came 
the  great  political  cloudburst  of  '61  and  the  four  eventful 
years  of  carnage  to  follow.  Gentlemen  on  the  military  and  na- 
val service  from  the  South  were  reduced  to  choice  of  alterna- 
tives— poverty  and  honor  on  one  hand  and  assured  pay  and  po- 

[272] 


APPENDIX. 

sition  and  speedy  promotion  on  the  other ;  or  to  state  it  in  other 
and  plainer  terms,  to  elect  and  fight  for  or  against  their  moth- 
ers that  bore  them.  To  their  eternal  credit  be  it  spoken,  that  in 
that  test  election  and  severe  ordeal  of  true  manhood,  few 
wrongly  voted  and  wrongly  acted.  Almost  solidly  their  bal- 
lot was,  "poverty  and  unsullied  honor."  Some  few  there  were 
who  otherwise  elected,  and  some  of  these  did  strike  most  hurt- 
ful blow  of  all  against  their  native  section.  Marbles  and 
bronzes  in  their  honor  evince  the  victor's  gratitude.  Let  us 
for  sweet  charity,  throw  the  mantle  over  their  name  and  fame 
and  bury  their  nativity  in  oblivion.  Bob  Ransom,  like  a 
Carolinian  of  the  olden  time,  the  true  gentleman  and  knightly 
soldier,  came  quick  to  call  and  laid  his  sabre,  almost  sole 
earthly  possession,  save  his  young  wife  and  babies,  upon  the 
altar  of  his  mother  State.  Chivalric  Ellis,  then  on  the  brink 
of  the  grave,  gave  him  the  right  hand  of  welcome  and  bade 
him  raise  the  only  regiment  of  horsemen  then  authorized. 
ISTever  did  he  or  any  other  Governor  make  more  judicious 
selection.  Never  was  trust  more  worthily  executed.  ISTever 
was  there  a  more  superb  mounted  regiment  than  the  one  he 
organized,  equipped  and  carried  from  Ridgeway  to  Rich- 
mond. 

It  elicited  unstinted  praise  from  the  martial  President 
down  even  to  the  mercenary  contractor ;  and  better  still, 
aroused  emulation  and  rivalry  of  similar  commands  from  its 
own  and  sister  States.  In  this  last  regard  as  exemplar,  it 
was  of  untold  service  to  the  cause.  To  its  first  Colonel  was 
that  credit  mainly  due.  And  never  was  Colonel  better  sec- 
onded than  he  in  his  immediate  subordinates,  Lawrence 
Baker  and  J.  B.  Gordon,  both  later  on  in  command  of  his 
regiment,  and  later  still  general  officers.  Gordon  died  on  the 
field  of  glory,  and  so  Baker  too  would  have  done  if  he  hadn't 
had  more  life  tenacity  than  nine  cats  combined,  for  he  came 
out  mangled,  shattered  and  battered  as  few  others  did  from 
that  dread  ordeal.  God  bless  you,  old  "Sabreur"  and  friend  and 
grant  that  you  live  to  carry  those  glorious  scars  for  many 
a  year  yet  to  come. 

Its  first  Colonel  like  Forrest,  was  born  an  ideal  cavalry- 
man. He  was  one  of  the  most  superb  horsemen  that  ever 
18  [ 273  ] 


APPENDIX. 

vaulted  into  saddle,  with  the  combined  critical  eyer  of  the 
trader  and  amateur  in  selection  and  the  Bedouin's  inherent 
love  for  the  friend  that  bore  him  through  trials  and  dangers 
whilst  ever  on  the  alert  and  lookout  for  these  last. 

The  post  of  da,nger  was  ever  the  coveted  place  of  that 
model  regiment,  and  the  one  by  discerning  generalship  usu- 
ally assigned  it.  Many  and  oft  times  have  I  heard  grand 
old  Hampton  dilate  in  loving  and  admiring  terms  of  its 
proved  valor  at  critical  juncture.  Of  all  the  daring  deeds  of 
that  Preux  Chevalier,  I  think  he  takes  most  pride  in  his  night 
attack  at  Atlee's  Station.  With  306  men,  253  being  of  the 
First  North  Carolina  Cavalry  under  command  of  Col.  Wm. 
H.  Cheek,  and  the  remaining  53  of  the  Second  North  Caro- 
lina, under  Major  Andrews,  all  Tar  Heels,  he  attacked  Kil- 
patrick's  entire  division  and  caused  it  to  retreat  or  rather 
stampede  at  the  dead  hour  of  night,  after  capturing  a  briga- 
dier general  and  a  train  of  other  captives  outnumbering  the 
force  he  hed. 

I  read  a  letter  on  the  subject  from  General  Hampton : 

Columbia,  S.  C,  March  4th,  1892. 
My  Dear  Colonel :  I  am  glad  to  learn  that  you  are  to 
deliver  a  eulogy  on  General  Robert  Ransom,  for  his  charac- 
ter and  career  reflected  honor  on  North  Carolina.  It  was 
mv  good1  fortune  to  have  the  First  North  Carolina  cavalry 
in  my  command  during  the  larger  part  of  the  war,  and  I 
always  attributed  much  of  the  efficiency  of  this  noble  regi- 
ment to  its  first  Colonel,  afterwards  the  distinguished  General 
Robert  Ransom.  To  him  was  due  in  large  measure  those  sol- 
dierly qualities  which  won  for  his  old  regiment  its  high  repu- 
tation, a  reputation  it  deserved,  for  in  my  opinion  there  was 
no  finer  body  of  men  in  the  A.  of  NjVa.,  than  those  com- 
posing the  First  North  Carolina  Cavalry.  Of  the  many 
instances  when  this  regiment  distinguished  itself  I  recall  one, 
when  in  conjunction  with  a  small  detachment  from  the  Sec- 
ond North  Carolina  it  performed  a  memorable  achievement 
in  the  defeat  of  Kilpatrick  on  his  raid,  attempting  to  cap- 
ture the  city  of  Richmond.  With  only  250  men  in  its  hanks 
under  command  of  Colonel   Creek,   and  with  fifty  men  of 

[274] 


APPENDIX. 

the  Second,  we  struck  Kilpatrick's  camp  at  1  o'clock  in  the 
morning  in  a  snow  storm,  after  marching  forty  miles;  cap- 
tured more  prisoners — representing  five  regiments — than  our 
number,  including  the  officers  commanding  the  brigade,  and 
put  to  flight  Kilpatrick's  whole  force  of  three  brigades  in 
which  were  5,000  men.  But  on  every  field  this  regiment  dis- 
played conspicuous  gallantry.  Your  State,  which  furnished 
so  many  gallant  soldiers  to  the  Confederacy,  gave  none  who 
upheld  her  honor  and  reflected  glory  on  our  flag  more  bravely 
than  did  the  First  regiment  of  cavalry.  I  can  never  forget 
my  old  comrades  who  composed  it.  Peace  to  their  dead  and 
all  honor  to  their  living. 

Sincerely  yours, 

Wade  Hampton. 

When  it  is  taken  into  account  that  Kilpatrick's  purpose 
was  a  junction  with  Dahlgreen,  the  infamous,  whose  purpose 
was  as  proclaimed  by  papers  found  upon  his  base  carcass  the 
next  day,  after  capturing  our  Capital  and  murdering  the 
President  and  other  high  officials,  to  release  the  Federal  pris- 
oners and  turn  the  city  over  to  indiscriminate  sack  and  pil- 
lage and  ultimate  destruction,  the  importance  of  the  victory 
will  be  better  realized.  The  discomfiture  of  this  hellish 
scheme  was  mainly  due  to  the  general  in  command,  and  the 
general  who  had  organized  and  infused  his  spirit  into  that 
gallant  regiment  and  made  it  adequate  to  the  desperate  under- 
taking. But  let  its  old  commander  speak  for  himself  further 
on.  Long  before  that,  Colonel  Ransom  had  been  assigned  to 
a  brigade  command  and  a  little  later  on  to  a  divisional.  From 
the  time  of  his  first  promotion  to  the  end  he  was  alternately 
in  command  of  cavalry  and  infantry,  thus  proving  his  ver- 
satility for  command,  and  the  great  confidence  reposed  in 
him  by  the  appointing  power. 

November,  1861,  whilst  Colonel  of  the  First  Cavalry,  he 
led  successfully  in  the  first  encounter  between  the  cavalry  of 
the  two  armies.  In  the  spring  of  1862  he  was  promoted 
Brigadier-General  for  the  special  purpose  of  detailing  him 
to  organize  the  cavalry  under  Gen.  Albert  Sidney  Johnston 
in  the  West,  but  ISTew  Bern  having  fallen,  this  purpose  was 

[275] 


APPENDIX. 

abandoned,  and  he  was  ordered  to  Eastern  North  Carolina  to 
hold  the  enemy  in  check  and  to  maintain  railroad  communi- 
cations. In  June,  1862,  he  was  assigned  to  the  command  of 
the  North  Carolina  brigade  of  infantry,  and  was  with  Holmes 
and  Huger  during  the  seven  days  fight,  and  at  Malvern  Hill 
his  brigade  made  the  last  charge,  and  left  some  of  its  dead 
among  the  Federal  guns. 

In  the  first  Maryland  campaign  his  brigade  was  a  part  of 
J.  G.  Walker's  division,  and  was  at  the  fall  of  Harper's 
Terry  and  in  the  hard-fought  battle  of  Sharpsburg.  From 
the  extreme  right  (September  17th),  he  was,  at  9  a.  m., 
double-quicked  to  the  left  centre,  where  the  enemy  had  pene- 
trated our  lines.  They  were  driven  back,  and  three  succes- 
sive attacks  in  overwhelming  force  repulsed,  and  the  position 
held  until  our  army  was  withdrawn  on  the  night  of  the  18th. 
That  feat  is  all  the  more  worthy  of  mention  when  it  is  taken 
into  account  that  two  gallant  commands  had  been  forced  back 
when  he  came  to  the  rescue,  and  that  his  force  was  subjected 
to  an  artillery  fire  at  canister  range  for  several  hours  with- 
out the  chance  of  replying. 

At  Fredericksburg  he  commanded  Walker's  old  division 
(December  13,  1862),  and  "was  in  special  charge  of  Mars' 
and  Willis  Hill,"  where  the  Federals  suffered  heavier  than 
at  any  other  part  of  the  line.  Here  it  was  that  Meagher's  fa- 
mous Irish  brigade  was  almost  exterminated  after  various  re- 
peated charges  to  carry  the  position.  Perhaps  the  lesson  then 
received  from  the  force  in  his  front  was  the  prompting  im- 
pulse of  the  generous  tribute  paid  his  foeman  by  that  gallant 
son  of  Erin,  Thomas  Francis  Meagher.  In  reply  to  a  sere- 
nade given  him  in  Chicago  after  the  war  he  was  reported  at 
the  time  to  have  used  this  language :  "Now  that  they  are  pros- 
trate, the  question  comes  up,  how  shall  we  treat  them  ?  My 
answer  is,  with  the  utmost  kindness,  cordiality,  generosity 
and  magnanimity,  for  they  deserve  it.  No  people  have  ever 
dared  as  they  did.  No  people  have  ever  endured  as  they  did. 
Aye,  by  the  God  of  battles,  no  people  have  ever  fought  as 
they  did.  They  have  proven  themselves  the  master  revolu- 
tionists of  all  history.  To  treat  such  people  otherwise  than 
indicated  would  be  the  quintessence  of  baseness,  cowardice 
and  pusilanimity." 

[276] 


APPENDIX. 

Had  that  magnanimous  course  prevailed,  as  it  probably 
would  had  it  been  left  to  the  decision  of  the  true  soldier  ele- 
ment of  the  North,  the  asperities  and  animosities  of  the  war 
had  long  since  been  as  effectually  wiped  out  as  have  the  earth- 
works around  your  towns  that  the  war  called  into  being.  But, 
alas,  those  "sons  of  thunder,"  mouthers,  ranters  and  hot- 
house politicians,  who  had  a  Falstaffian  repugnance  to  the 
villainous  smell  of  saltpetre  when  they  could  get  a  whiff,  and 
illustrate  John  Phoenix's  sneer  of  "Soldiers  in  peace,  citizens 
in  war,"  had  no  notion  of  giving  up  their  chief  stock  in  trade. 

In  January,  1863,  he  was  ordered  to  North  Carolina  with 
a  division  to  repulse  a  threatened  attack  on  the  W.  &  W.  R.  R. 
Here  he  remained  in  active  service  till  May  ensuing,  when 
he  was  made  Major-General  and  superseded  Gen.  D.  H.  Hill 
in  the  command  of  Richmond,  when  the  latter  was  trans- 
ferred to  Bragg's  army  in  the  West.  Here  he  remained 
about  two  months,  when  sickness  compelled  him  to  give  up 
the  command. 

In  October,  1863,  he  was  assigned  to  command  in  East 
Tennessee,  and  drove  the  enemy  as  far  south  as  Knoxville, 
and  in  November  had  a  brigade  of  cavalry,  and  then  was 
ordered  to  Richmond  "for  other  and  distant  service."  It  was 
the  President's  purpose  to  assign  him  to  the  command  of  the 
trans-Mississippi  Department,  and  his  nomination  to  a  Lieu- 
tenant-Generalcy  was  sent  in.  But  the  threatened  condition 
of  affairs  at  Richmond,  and  the  confidence  reposed  in  him 
by  the  President  induced  a  change  in  that  arrangement,  and 
he  was  assigned  to  the  command,  having  for  its  object  the 
defense  and  protection  of  the  Confederate  capital. 

How  well  that  duty  was  performed  is  shown  by  a  manu- 
script letter  of  Mr.  Davis  to  him,  from  which  I  make  a  short 
extract:  "You  had  been  my  main  reliance  for  the  defense 
of  Richmond.  You  had  shown  both  your  gallantry  and  ca- 
pacity before  you  were  ordered  to  reinforce  Beauregard  for 
temporary  service."  This  letter  bears  date  of  19th  of  March, 
1887,  only  two  years  before  that  immortal  man  left  us.  Only 
six  weeks  before  his  death  I  heard  from  his  own  lips  strong 
confirmatory  evidence  of  the  high  estimate  in  which  he  held 
General  Ransom.     This  was  fully  shared  by  the  devoted  and 

[277] 


APPENDIX. 

gifted  widow  of  our  Chieftain.  When  compiling  his  biogra- 
phy, she  wrote  me  an  urgent  letter  to  try  and  induce  Bob 
Ransom  to  go  down  to  Beauvoir  and  help  her  in  the  work. 
This  unfortunately  was  out  of  his  power  to  do. 

Apropos  of  those  two  men,  the  last  time  that  I  ever  saw 
Gen.  Robert  Ransom  was,  I  believe,  in  the  summer  of  1891, 
at  the  reunion  of  the  old  Confederate  Veterans'  Association 
at  Wrightsville,  at  which  he  was  the  then  President,  and  of 
which  I  had  been  the  first.  In  consequence,  I  was  booked 
as  the  orator  of  the  occasion,  and  took  as  my  theme :  "Our 
hero  President  with  his  jailor  as  concomitant."  In  that 
large  crowd  of  honored  old  gray  beards  there  was  no  more 
attentive  listener  present  than  their  honored  head.  When 
my  address  was  ended,  he  wasi  the  first  to  grasp  my  hand  and 
to  thank  me,  as  he  was  pleased  to  phrase  it,  for  a  worthy 
tribute  to  one  of  the  truly  grand  men  that  the  world  had 
known.  Those  who  knew  him  who  uttered  it  can  appreciate 
the  compliment,  for  he  was  one  who  never  indulged  in 
double-faced  meaning.  Do  not  mistake  my  friends,  he  was 
not  alluding  to  the  "concomitant,"  the  key  bearer,  the  riveter 
of  fetters  in  that  deplorable  episode  in  our  national  history. 
JSTo,  he  was  not  referring  to  the  Promethean  torturer,  by 
classic  tradition  the  vulture,  by  ornithologists  the  buzzard, 
"exulting  in  the  glory  of  the  night"  over  the  agonies  of  a 
shackeled  giant.  A  creature  we  are  told  of  insatiable  maw  is 
that  same  bird  with  gorge  of  honors  such  as  a  real  hero  has 
no  right  to  aspire  beyond  this  gorgeous  thing  looks  higher 
still.  There  must  be  a  special  grade,  forsooth,  up  to  this 
time  filled  by  three  or  four  world-recognized  heroes  re-created 
to  fit  his  transcendent  merits.  Tell  it  not  in  Gath,  publish 
it  not  in  the  streets  of  Askelon.  Did  Hudson  Lowe  reach 
the  high  command  of  the  British  army?  Did  "Simon  the 
cobbler"  ever  grasp  the  Marshall's  baton  of  Prance? 

IsTo,  he  was  not  talking  of  such  a  thing  as  this,  but  of  an 
old  man  in  gray  down  on  the  Mexico  Gulf  who  had  lately 
left  us,  weighed  down  by  cruel  usage  and  the  cares  of  state. 
He  had  held  the  proudest  and  most  difficult  place  ever  held 
by  mortal  man,  and  filled  it  too.  Aye,  according  to  the  Hon. 
Mr.  Roebuck,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  filled  it  as  none 

[278] 


APPENDIX. 

other  on  the  then  habited  globe  could  have  done.  He  was 
the  head  and  front  of  the  sublirnest  cause  ever  espoused  by 
heroes  at  its  death.  He  was  the  head  and  front  of  our  of- 
fending, or,  at  least,  as  a  vicarious  sacrifice,  they  fain  would 
so  have  finished  him,  had  the  law  and  the  world's  opinion 
permitted.  Despite  the  systematic  tortures  of  this  petty 
tyrant,  he  lived  on  for  twenty  years  and  died  as  his  friends 
proclaimed  him,  and  the  discriminating  world  now  proclaims 
him,  "one  of  the  grand  men  in  the  tides  of  time."  His 
keeper,  such  by  the  accidency  of  circumstances  or  the  restric- 
tion in  the  field  of  selection,  is  given  the  pitiful  power  of 
degrading  his  own  o-overnment  in  the  vain  endeavor  to  de- 
grade  the  other  by  tyranny  to  its  Chieftain.  Pardon  the 
emphasis  of  my  English,  oh  friends,  for  it  is  my  style  under 
provocation,  and  is  bound  to  come  out  when  the  artesian  pres- 
sure at  the  bottom  gives  the  impulse. 

But  to  return.  Besides  checkmating  raiders,  he  was  as- 
signed to  special  duty  under  General  Beauregard  to  meet 
Butler's  movement  near  Bermuda  Hundred.  He  com- 
manded the  left  wing  and  repulsed  the  enemy's  right.  With 
him,  as  the  General  in  command,!  there  is  every  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  the  battle  below  Drury's  Bluff  would  have  been  a 
crushing  and  an  overwhelming  defeat  to  Butler.  In  special 
orders  the  day  after  the  fight,  General  Beauregard  was 
pleased  to  compliment  his  divisional  General  in  most  eulo- 
gistic terms.  On  the  10th  of  June,  nearly  a  month  later,  in 
his  report  to  the  war  office,  he  virtually  unsays  what  was  then 
published  and  animadverts  on  Generals  Ransom  and  Whit- 
ing. There  be  some  who  opine  that  the  change  of  tone  in  the 
two  documents  as  to  the  first  was  simply  self  explanatory, 
when  the  commanding  General  discovered  that  there  was  a 
feeling  of  general  disappointment  at  general  results  that  day 
obtained,  and  that  he  preferred  for  others  to  bear  the  respon- 
sibility to  shouldering  it  himself.  So  did  not  Robert  Lee 
after  Gettysburg. 

I  beg  to  add  here  the  following  statement  made  in  a  re- 
cent letter  from  that  good  soldier,  that  hard  fighter,  that  de- 
voted   and    faithful    man,    Gen.    William    Gaston    Lewis: 

"I  shall  always  believe  that  the  order  I  received  from  Gen- 

[279] 


APPENDIX. 


eral  Robert  Ransom  to  forward  and  attack  the  enemy  at 
double  quick,  saved  Drury's  Bluff  and  also  Richmond." 

Be  that  as  it  may,  there  is  no  denying  that  the  discrepancy 
of  statement  is  very  extraordinary,  to  say  the  least.  Unfor- 
tunately for  him,  it  was  not  the  first  time  that  that  redoubt- 
able gentleman  had  had  recourse  to  like  tactics  to  extenuate 
his  own  incapacity  in  the  hour  of  almost  assured  victory. 
Superiors,  as  well  as  subordinates,  must  undergo  like  criti- 
cism when  he  needed  a  shield,  as  witness  the  President  and 
the  Senior  General  of  the  army.  But  to  return  to  General 
Ransom.  In  June,  1864  he  was  assigned  to  the  command 
of  Early's  Cavalry  in  his  movement  to  meet  Hunter  and  was 
with  him  all  through  his  march  to  the  rear  of  Washington  in 
July,  1864.  He  was  taken  sick  and  relieved  August  15th, 
1864,  and  was  on  leave  until  September  of  same  year  when 
he  was  sent  as  President  of  Court  of  Inquiry  to  investigate 
outrages  reported  to  have  been  done  on  Morgan's  last  raid 
into  Kentucky. 

In  November,  1864,  he  was  sent  to  the  command  of 
Charleston  and  surrounding  country,  which  renewed  sick- 
ness compelled  him  to  give  up  shortly  afterwards. 

Such  is  the  brief  outline  or  synopsis  of  the  war  record 
of  Bob  Ransom,  and  it  is  one  that  any  man  and  his  posterity 
might  well  be  proud  of.  As  adjunct  to  it,  pardon  a  few  ex- 
tracts from  a  manuscript  letter  of  his  of  December,  1883.  It 
was  written  to  one  of  his  old  soldiers  and  couriers,  Professor 
]STat  Allen,  of  Kingstree,  S.  C,  who  submitted  a  sketch  for 
a  magazine  publication  for  his  revision  and  correction.  They 
are  given  as  evidence  of  his  high  sense  of  honor,  of  truth  and 
honesty,  which  would  not  permit  him  to  profit  by  the  partial 
mistakes  of  a  loving  friend  whilst  at  the  same  time  he  mod- 
estly claims  what  he  was  justly  entitled  to. 

He  writes :  "In  some  respects  you  are  mistaken.  I  did 
not  supersede  or  relieve  Sam  Jones  in  S.  W.  Virginia  and 
East  Tennessee.  I  reported  to  him  as  a  subordinate.  You 
were  right  as  to-  my  doing  the  work  and  entirely  independent 
of  his  directions,  for  he  gave  me  none.  I  did  not  decline  to 
go  to  the  trans-Mississippi,  but  I  did  not  suit  politicians,  and 
the  pressure  being  so  great  around  Richmond,  was  by  the 

[280] 


APPENDIX. 

President's  order  assigned  command  at  Richmond  and  De- 
partment of  Henrico.  I  stopped  Butler.  The  affair  at 
Rogersville  was  on  the  6th  of  November,  1863.  ...  I  took 
command  of  Earley's  Cavalry  at  Lynchburg,  Virginia,  about 
the  18th  or  19th  of  June,  1864.  Disorganized  as  was  this 
force,  I  made  it  do  some  good  sendee.  I  got  nearer  to  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  I  believe,  than  did  any  other  general  officer  of 
the  Confederacy,  going  within  less  than  a  hundred  yards  of 
the  works  north  of  the  city.  In  November,  '61,  I  went  to 
Charleston,  S.  C,  and  left  there  just  after  Christmas  and  was 
no  more  on  duty.  At  Malvern  Hill  my  brigade  made  the 
last  charge  and  my  men  fell  at  the  muzzles  of  the  enemy's 
cannon.  At  Sharpsburg,  I  masked  (  ?)  the  junction  of  Early 
and  Hood,  who  fought  out,  and  repulsed  Sumner's  and 
Hooker's  attacks  during  the  day.  At  Fredericksburg,  with 
less  than  5,000  men  I  repulsed  the  Federal  attacks  with  a 
trifling  loss  to  us,  killing  over  2,000  Federals.  I  think 
though,  my  best  service  was  in  organizing  the  First  North 
Carolina  Cavalry,  and  in  my  work  at  Kinston,  1ST.  C,  in  the 
spring  of  '62,  when  I  brought  order  out  of  chaos,  after  the 
fall  of  Newbern,  and  in  my  operations  around  Richmond 
in  1^64  (the  spring),  when  with  only  a  handful  of  men  I  pre- 
vented the  fall  of  the  city  against  raids  and  Butler's  attacks. 
I  have  been  trying  to  get  up  data,  but  it  seems  a  hopeless  job, 
and  I  hate  to  write  anything  which  will  not  be  complete  and 

convincing It  does  appear  that  I  am  for  all  my 

life  to  be  at  hard  employment.  Well,  better  wear  out  too 
quickly  than  rust  out  and  linger  too  long.  I  return  the  paper, 
and  if  you  can  correct  it  satisfactorily  and  do  justice  to 
Brigadier-General  W.  E.  Jones  for  his  part  at  Rogersville, 
for  you  know  he  was  in  immediate  command,  I  will  as  fully 
appreciate  and  recognize  your  kindness  and  friendship  as  a 
grateful  man  can.  Be  sure  not  to  claim  anything  for  me 
that  is  not  justly  mine.      .   .   .     Faithfully  yours." 

Much  of  this  letter,  my  friends,  is  repetition  in  the  main, 
but  it  is  given  as  confirmation  of  what  was  gleaned  from 
other  sources,  for  you  who  knew  him  well  will  affirm  that  'Tie 
would  not  claim  anything  for  himself  that  is  not  justly  his." 

[281] 


APPENDIX. 

And  now,  my  friends,  with,  a  brief  summary  of  character, 
we  will  close  this  too  extended  sketch. 

Old  Tom  Carlyle  hath  pungently  said  in  effect  if  not  in 
words,  that  "none  but  earnest  men  do  deeds  worth  chronicle." 
True  for  you,  old  Epigram,  aud  here  is  an  illustration.  Bob 
Ransom  was  an  earnest  man.  Convince  his  judgment  and 
every  fibre  and  impulse  of  his  nature  was  sure  to  follow  to 
make  that  judgment  good. 

'Tis  needless  to  say  to  those  who  knew  him,  that  conscience 
had  first  to  be  convinced.  That  done,  and  work  or  fight  or 
pray,  "he  did  his  level  best." 

I  have  told  you  as  you  knew  before,  that  he  was  a  follower 
true  and  tried  of  "the  Southern  Cross."  Those  who  knew 
him  only  on  the  surface,  little  thought  that  there  was  an- 
other "Cross"  for  which  he  strove  within  himself  even  more 
strenuously.  I  know  it  of  observation  in  the  dead  hour  of 
night,  and  have  had  it  confirmed  by  tongue  of  one  whose 
words  with  me  is  almost  tantamount  to  either  of  the  five 
senses,  his  old  comrade  in  arms,  the  late  Col.  E.  D.  Hall; 
judging  from  his  war  diary  he  seemed  never  to  have  missed 
divine  service  when  secular  duties  permitted  his  attendance. 
One  entry  is  here  inserted;  April  8th,  '64,  "Last  Day.  Tried 
faithfully  and  piously  to  observe  it." 

"  So  groan'd  Sir  Launcelot  in  remorseful  pain, 
Not  knowing  he  should  die  a  holy  man." 

Whilst  few  had  higher  regard  for  'the  good  opinion  of  the 
discerning  good,  none  held  in  more  sovereign  scorn  the  ephem- 
eral popularity,  for  which  small  men  strive  as  good  supreme 
of  earthly  aspiration.  Perhaps  in  him  it  was  carried  a  frac- 
tion too  far,  both  in  peace  and  war.  His  idea  was  that  an 
approving  conscience  is  essential  to  happiness.  "The  rest 
is  but  tinsel  and  gewgaw;"  so  held  Socrates,  the  philosopher, 
wisest  of  men. 

It  may  be  a  fallacious  creed  for  worldly  gain,  but  for  eter- 
nal give  it  me  every  time  before  that  of  the  smiling,  smirking 
time-server,  now  this,  now  that,  all  things  to  all  men.  It  is 
essentially  the  faith  of  brave,  high  strung,  straightforward, 
self-reliant  natures,  for  sturdy  independence  and  freedom 
from  cant,   duplicity,   hypocrisy,   and  policy,   the  world  has 

[282] 


APPENDIX. 


rarely  seen  Bob  Ransom's  match.  He  had  an  instinctive 
repugnance  to  anything  that  bore  in  slightest  the  semblance 
of  unseemly  claim,  or  cringe  or  fawn  or  untruth.  _, 

Ladies  and  old  comrades,  I  have  tried  to  give  you  in  my 
feeble  way  the  limn  and  outline  of  a  hero,  one  who  reflected 
glory  on  his  State  and  her  cause  as  he  did  in  our  frail  hu- 
manity and  as  he  would  have  done  on  the  "Table  round  of 
Arthur  and  his  chosen  twelve."  He  was  one  of  the  126,000 
according  to  official  count,  that  ^STorth  Carolina  sent  to  the 
front  in  those  trying  and  telling  times.  Heroes  all  they  were, 
except  the  exceptional  few  homesick  gentlemen  who  could 
not  get  along  on  rather  precarious  camp  fare  with  only  for 
saltpetre  for  seasoning,  and  had  to  go  home  with  or  without 
leave,  for  "pies  and  things.'1  Scratch  the  names  of  such  off  the 
roll,  and  we  have  an  immortal  roster  left  in  very  truth.  Her 
contribution  to  the  cause,  ]S7orth  Carolina's  I  mean,  was  so 
overwhelmingly  in  excess  of  the  others,  that  to  spare  the  feel- 
ings of  the  others  we'll  omit  comparative  figures.  Suffice 
for  purpose  that  no  other  State  approximated  her  in  soldiers, 
none  surpassed  her  in  gallant  deeds,  none  equalled  her  in 
graves.  I  said  that  he  was  a  unit  of  the  126,000  heroes,  bar- 
ring deserters,  that  are  accredited  to  ISTorth  Carolina.  As 
times  will  not  permit  to  call  the  roll  and  specify  their  deeds 
in  detail,  we  must  take  a  few  of  their  typical  leaders  as  illus- 
trative of  the  men  they  led.  Without  the  backing  of  these 
last  they  could  never  have  risen  to  the  proud  grade  of  his- 
toric front.     It  takes  heroes  to  make  heroes.     'Tis  ever  so. 

"  Ye  brave  en  masse  who  fall  and  pass  to  the  leaden  halls  of  death, 
There  are  palms  for  the  few,  but  alas  for  you, 
Not  a  leaf  from  the  victor's  wreath.' 

Let  it  content  us,  brothers,  duty  well  performed  must 
needs  be  our  meed  and  guerdon.  What  higher  meed  need  men 
demand  ?  Here  are  a  few  of  you  who  inscribed  your  names 
high  on  the  historic  scroll,  and  most  of  whom  did  die  for  cause 
espoused.  I  take  at  random  George  Anderson  and  Junius 
Daniel,  Pender  and  Pettigrew,  Grimes  Branch  and  Bragg, 
Ramseur,  Hoke  and  the  other  Ransom.  Of  course  there  are 
many  glorious  names  omitted,  but  these  will  do  as  type  and  il- 
lustration of  that  super-human  army. 

[283] 


APPENDIX. 


After  war's  stern  alarms  were  over,  he  settled  down  to  the 
humble  citizen  and  devoted  the  remnant  of  his  well-spent  life 
to  the  improvement  of  the  water-ways  on  your  coast.  His 
unpretentious  after  life  was  in  keeping  with  the  glorious 
record  that  he  had  previously  made.  He  lived  and  died  a  true 
soldier,  a  good  citizen  and  an  upright  gentleman. 

With  bowed  heads  and  reverential  mien  and  grateful 
hearts,  we  thank  Thee,  oh  God  of  battles  and  Giver  of  all 
good  and  perfect  gifts,  that  in  the  hour  of  supreme  grief  and 
disappointment  and  the  generation  of  sorrows  and  trials  that 
have  followed,  thou  didst  vouchsafe  such  a  spotless  cause  and 
such  unsullied  champions  to  uphold  it.     Amen. 


West  Point  Then  West  Point  Now. 
(A  letter  written  by  "Senex"  to  the  Washington  Post,  February  3, 1901.) 

Brutality  is  a  synonym  for  fun.  So  says  the  savage  whilst 
gloating  over  the  agonies  of  his  victim.  So  thought  and 
thinks  Dante's  demons  in  Inferno,  as  they  pile  on  the  fagots 
for  fresh  arrivals  in  that  hope-left  region.  It  passes  belief 
that  any,  save  creatures  of  this  debased  and  abnormal  type, 
could  take  delight  in  suffering,  and,  least  of  all,  in  those  of 
their  own  kind.  Recent  developments,  however,  in  our  two 
"national  nurseries"  for  soldiers  and  seamen  forces  the  re- 
luctant conclusion  that  innate  propensity  in  the  baser  sort 
for  inflicting  pain  when  solely  a  one-sided  game  is  not  modi- 
fied by  fortuitous  station  or  a  little  suj)erncial  culture.  The 
brutish  instinct  of  the  son  of  Aurelius,  whose  chief  delight 
on  the  verge  of  manhood  was  to  torture  flies,  naturally  paved 
the  way  as  his  great  fathers  foresaw  in  his  successor,  to  Corn- 
modus,  "the  execrable,"  torturer  of  men.  As  easy  the  trans- 
ition from  the  torturer  of  "plebes"  to  the  tyrant  of  peoples, 
when  opportunity  places  it  in  his  power.  Eliminate  the 
whole  cowardly,  detestable  brood  as  fast  as  the  vile  nature 
is  developed. 

Fifty  years  ago,  says  an  old  man,  the  older  cadets  would 
have  a  little  harmless  sport  out  of  the  newcomer  by  jest,  gibe, 
or  harmless  boyish  pranks,  rarely,  if  ever,  transcending  the 

[284] 


APPENDIX. 

gentleman's  bound  of  courage,  decency,  and  inborn  gentility. 
There  was  a  tradition  then,  still  current  on  "The  Point,"  old 
Senex  continues,  which  may  have  had  much  to  do  with  put- 
ting a  curb  on  vulgar,  upstart  pretension.  But  to  the  story, 
be  it  purely  apochryphal  or  mostly  true,  and  the  last  is  my 
diagnosis,  having  ever  believed  that  "the  boy  is  father  of  the 
man."  The  tale  is  told  as  it  was  told  at  the  time,  half  a  cen- 
tury ago. 

Back  in  the  "twenties,"  so  the  tradition  runneth,  quoth 
"Senex,"  there  came  to  the  academy  a  stalwart  son  of  Ken- 
tucky, country  born  and  country  bred  was  he,  but  high-strung 
and  self-reliant.  Modest  and  reserved  he  was  by  high  home 
culture  and  gentlemanly  instinct,  but  punctilious  to  a  hair's 
breadth  in  questions  involving  his  inherent  rights.  Of  course 
the  lad  was  unknown  to  fame.  The  world  had  never  heard  of 
him  up  to  that  day.  It  has  heard  of  him  ever  since,  and 
will  continue  to  hear  whilst  fame  has  tongue  and  men  have 
ears. 

On  the  night  after  his  arrival  he  was  waited  upon  by  a 
visiting  squad  of  soldier  cadets  on  a  little  "fun"  intent.  Soon 
one  of  his  visitors  passed  him  the  lie,  for  specific  purpose  of 
provoking  excuse  for  ulterior  proceedings.  He  got  it,  for  the 
next  moment  he  was  in  a  recumbent  position  from  a  blow 
between  the  eyes.  Of  course,  such  an  unheard  of  presump- 
tion, a  plebe  striking  an  older  cadet,  could  not  be  atoned 
except  in  blood.  Such  the  predicate  laid  down  by  outraged 
dignity,  to  which  the  offender  was  more  than  acquiescent. 

"Yes,"  was  the  cool  reply,  "I'll  fight  your  whole  posse 
in  detail,  in  any  way  you  may  elect,  if  you  will  only  promise 
'fair  play.'  " 

With  both  sides  so  very  accommodating,  of  course  the  pre- 
liminaries were  soon  arranged. 

Place,  Kosciuske's  garden.  Time,  just  after  reveille  in 
the  morning.  Weapons,  muskets  loaded  with  fifteen  buck- 
shot each.     Distance,  fifteen  paces. 

One  of  the  young  gentlemen  kindly  voluntered  to  act  as 
the  plebe's  second.  They  met.  according  to  agreement,  and 
at  the  first  fire  the  older  classman  fell.     The  younger  pro- 

[285] 


APPENDIX. 

ceeded  at  once  to  reload  his  own  gun  with  the  deliberation  and 
nonchalance  of  a  juvenile  rabbit  hunter. 

"What  are  you  doing,  Plebe  ?"  Don't  you  see  you  have 
killed  your  man  ?"  exclaimed  his  "friend,"  in  evident  alarm. 

"Well,  if  he  is  dead,  a  little  more  killing  won't  do  him  any 
hurt,"  was  the  calm  reply.  "Wake  up  your  dead  friend  and 
tell  him  for  me  he  had  better  proceed  to  do  what  I  am  doing, 
for  I'm  resolved  to  have  another  shot  or  two  before  this  funny 
party  breaks  up.  Here  are  three  honest  cartridges,  not  fire- 
crackers. Select  one  for  your  dead  friend,  and  another  for 
yourself.  I  will  keep  the  third.  All  three  as  well  as  the  one 
in  my  gun  barrel  are  charged  precisely  alike.  Of  this  you 
must  take  my  word,  but  rest  assured  there's  lead  in  each.  Go 
and  report  what  you  have  heard,  and  let  me  know  the  decision 
of  yourself  and  friends." 

There  was  a  hurried  interchange  of  opinion  in  that  mimic 
"council  of  war"  when  that  plebe's  mandate  for  a  plebiscite 
became  known.  The  story  runs  that  the  "dead  man"  evinced 
more  vitality  and  a  more  pacific  spirit  than  any  other  in  that 
conclave  of  fun-seekers  and  merry-makers.  They  do  say 
that  after  he  came  to  life  he  talked  with  a  fluency  and  volu- 
bility until  then  dormant  in  advocacy  of  acquiescing  in  the 
bullheaded  plebe's  demands.  They  do  say,  too,  that  he  had  a 
most  eloquent  seconder  in  the  late  "second"  of  the  second 
party  of  the  second  part. 

"What  do  you  demand  ?"  was  the  answer  brought  back  by 
the  messenger. 

"An  ample  apology  from  each  and  all  of  you  for  your  un- 
gentlemanly  treatment,  and  a  promise  to  abstain  from  such 
in  the  future." 

"I  am  authorized  to  say  that  such  demand  will  be  com- 
plied with  by  all  of  us,"  was  the  prompt  rejoinder. 

For  once  the  hazers  were  hazed,  and  innate  cruelty  taught 
a  lesson  which  was  borne  in  mind  for  many  a  day  thereafter. 

History  tells  of  another  plebe  in  the  dim  bygone  who, 
single-handed,  "held  the  bridge"  against  advancing  hordes 
of  normal  brutality.  Who  will  say  that  the  incident  men- 
tioned does  not  entitle  the  later  plebe  to  kindred  plane  with 
that  since  held  by  "the  brave  Horatius  ?"     The  sportsman's 

[286] 


APPENDIX. 

intuition  on  discharge  told  the  boy  that  there  was  only  a 
blank  cartridge  in  his  gun,  and  missing  his  target,  a  pair  of 
legs,  at  short  range  settled  it  beyond  doubt,  hence  his  resolve 
to  try  "phlebotomy"  as  a  curative  for  cowardly  practical  jok- 
ing.    It  has  been  seen  how  it  worked. 

It  may  be  asked  whence  the  obvious  and  admitted  degen- 
eracy in  the  tone  and  esprit  de  corps  of  the  Military  Academy 
of  late  years. 

"Fifty  years  ago,"  continued  Senex,  "the  West  Point  corps 
of  cadets  was  the  most  truthful,  chivalrous,  high-toned  body 
of  young  gentlemen  that  could  be  found  in  the  world.  Truth, 
courage,  regard  for  the  rights  of  others,  especially  the  weaker 
— in  a  word,  inborn  and  cultivated  manhood — developed 
men,  heroes,  and  gentlemen,  surpassing  for  the  time  of  its 
brief  existence  any  other  school  that  the  world  had  known 
in  that  regard.  In  those  halcyon  days ;  I  had  a  cadet  friend 
(one  of  many)  to  whom  I  was  deeply  attached  until  the  incep- 
tion of  the  war  between  the  States,  he  espousing  the  Northern 
and  I  the  Southern  side  of  the  great  question  at  issue.  The 
estrangement  thus  produced  continued  for  many  years  there- 
after, when  by  mutual  consent  we  met  again  on  the  old  tramp- 
ing-ground.  War  questions  were,  by  tacit  understanding, 
ignored,  and  we  were  in  our  middle  manhood — boys  again — 
roaming  over  familiar  scenes  and  recalling  old  friends  and 
incidents  of  the  early  manhood  days.  He  had  been  a  ripe 
and  ready  scholar,  and  graduated  near  the  head  of  his  class 
and  been  a  close  student  ever  since.  As  a  consequence,  al- 
most on  emerging  from  the  section  room  he  had  been  called 
to  fill  one  of  the  most  important  chairs  in  the  academic  staff, 
and  he  filled  it  creditably.  In  one  of  our  turns  about  evening 
parade,  I  stopped  and  put  this  direct  question  to  him : 

"  'Tell  me,  amigo  mio'  whether  the  same  high  sense  of 
honor  pervades  that  line  that  did  in  our  day,  when  the  slight- 
est suspicion  of  prevarication  or  falsehood,  even  to  avoid  sus- 
pension or  dismissal,  would  consign  the  culprit  to  the  cate- 
gory of  'the  dogs,'  Anglice,  'social  pariahs  V 

"His  answer  follows,  in  effect:  'It  grieves  me,  old  fellow, 
to  tell  you  no;  so  far  from  it,  indeed,  that  a  bare-faced  lie 

[287] 


APPENDIX. 


on  lesser  inducement  entails  but  little  loss  of  caste  among  his 
fellows.' 

"  'To  what  do  you  ascribe  this  woeful  deterioration  ?'  was 
the  next  query. 

"  'Partly  to  the  demoralizing  results  of  war,  but  more  to 
the  loss  of  a  typical  sectional  equipoise  as  counter-balance.' 

"Be  his  diagnosis  of  'cause'  correct  or  otherwise,  never- 
theless, conceding  the  predicate,  and  it  is  easy  to  account 
for  the  continued  downward  grade  culminating  in  the  abyss 
of  infamy  for  the  culprits  now  being  developed." 

Macauley  asserts  that  lying  is  common  to  all  inferior  races, 
and  heaven-given  to  protect  themselves  against  a  superior 
race.  If  so  it  be,  what  more  natural  than  the  transition  to  the 
individual  man  of  like  base  instinct  from  liar  to  torturer. 
The  Hottentot,  the  Indian,  and  the  "heathen  Chinese"  are 
masters  of  each  accomplishment.  The  man  with  a  white  hide 
rarely  proves  a  laggard  in  any  field  of  competition  on  which 
his  ambition  prompts  him  to  enter. 

Fayetteville,  K  C.  W.  J.  G. 

A  PAPER  ON  JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 


An  Address  by  Col.  W.  J.  Green,  Delivered  to  the  Young  People  of  Fayetteville 
on  the  Ninety- Fifth  Birthday  of  the  President  of  the  Southern  Confederacy — 
The  Life  and  Character  of  the  Great  Leader  Described  by  One  who  Knew 
Him  Well. 

The  following  address  on  President  Jefferson  Davis  was 
delivered  before  the  young  people  of  Fayetteville  on  the  nine- 
ty-fifth anniversary  of  Mr.  Davis'  birthday,  by  Colonel  Whar- 
ton J.  Green.  It  was  published  in  the  Fayetteville  Observer 
by  request  of  J.'E.  B.  Stuart  chapter  Daughters  of  the  Con- 
federacy, and  a  copy  has  been  sent  to  The  Observer  with  a 
request  for  its  reproduction  in  the  columns  of  this  paper. 

"My  young  friends,  and  old  friends,  too,  pardon  a  few  pref- 
atory remarks,  and  I  will  tell  you  in  brief  why  we  are  here 
to-day  to  honor  the  memory  of  ex-President  Jefferson  Davis, 
and  to  make  it  plain,  you  have  only  to  be  told  what  manner  of 
man  he  was  too  that  we  honor  him  because  he  first  honored  us. 
He  was  an  earnest  man,  and  as  old  Tom  Carlyle  tells  us,  no 

[288] 


APPENDIX. 

other  kind  of  men  ever  achieve  anything  fit  to  live  or  worthy 
to  survive  in  this  world.  He  was  a  studious,  a  reflective,  a 
God-fearing  man,  ever  tenacious  of  his  own  rights  and  those 
of  his  people,  but  ever  ready  to  concede  as  much  to  others, 
which  constituted  him  a  just  man.  He  was  a  typical  and 
representative  man  of  a  class  embodying  the  grandest  civili- 
zation and  most  finished  society  that  the  world  contained, 
now  fast  becoming  extinct,  and  which  when  it  does,  the  world 
can  never  know  it's  like  again.  Such  was  the  "old  South," 
which  witlings  of  "the  new"  are  prone  to  deride  as  having 
been  deficient  in  "Push"  and  appreciation  of  material  or 
commercial  prosperity.  Correct  they  are,  for  that  class  was 
so  old  fogy  as  to  have  a  marked  preference  for  sterling,  old- 
fashioned  gentility  over  the  garish  substitute  that  has  come 
to  the  front  under  the  effulgent  new  order  of  things  subse- 
quently. This  man  was  an  illustration  of  the  first,  the  purse- 
proud  aristocracy  of  the  last.  Like  the  old  Greek,  he  did  not 
know  how  to  play  the  lute  or  dance  the  Pyrrhic  (or  the 
"german"  either),  hut  he  knew  how  to  make  a  small  State 
great,  for  he  was  of  a  race  that  turned  out  men,  "high- 
minded  men,"  and  not  mere  physical  and  intellectual  dwarf- 
ings,  or  moneyed  mountebanks. 

"  111  fares  the  land  to  hastening  ills  a  prey, 
Where  wealth  accumulates  and  men  decay." 

He  came  of  a  race  of  modest  mein,  but  assertive  manhood, 
one  that  knew  it's  rights,  and  knowing,  dared  maintain.  One 
that  evolved  heroes,  sages,  statesmen,  and  grandest  of  all 
gentlemen,  in  more  prolific  outcrop  than  any  other  of  like 
time  and  count  has  ever  done  or  will  do,  henceforth  and  for- 
ever. I  repeat,  after  mature  deliberation  and  due  reflection, 
and  after  being  a  close  and  untiring  student  of  history 
through  life,  that  this  man,  Jefferson  Davis,  first  and  only 
President  of  a  short  lived  but  immortal  Republic,  when  his- 
tory comes  to  be  written,  as  it  should  be,  will  loom  up  as  one 
of  the  world's  grandest  characters,  the  peer  of  Aurelius, 
Washington  and  Lee  (grandest  triumvirate  that  the  world 
has  known).  Can  praise  or  appreciation  go  higher?  From 
the  day  he  mounted  his  pony,  as  a  little  lad  of  seven  years 

19  [  289  ] 


APPENDIX. 

old  to  ride  through  three  great  States  to  matriculate  in  his 
first  public  boarding  school,  he  showed  the  stuff  that  was  in 
him.  Thence  on  to  the  end  of  his  glorious  and  most  event- 
ful life,  if  he  ever  fell  short  or  proved  derelict  in  any  duty 
devolving  upon  him,  after  filling  the  highest  positions  under 
two  great  governments ;  and  one,  the  most  trying  and  exact- 
ing ever  occupied  by  mortal  man  I  cannot  recall  it.  Did  ever 
man  go  to  render  his  final  account  with  such  a  balance  sheet 
as  that  before  ?  If  so,  close  historical  research  has  failed  to 
bring  it  under  my  eye.  He  was  never  over  elated  by  success, 
and  for  near  three  score  years,  he  had  his  full  allowance  of  it, 
nor  was  he  ever  unduly  depressed  by  "the  slings  and  arrows 
of  outrageous  fortune,"  and  in  his  declining  years,  he  seemed 
to  be  a  favorite  target  for  the  shafts  of  the  fickle  jade.  He 
received  the  praise  and  plaudits  of  the  impartial  world  with 
same  sublime  poise  and  'equanimity/  that  he  did  the  gnat 
stings  of  a  petty  tyrant,  whose  chiefest  delight  was  to  inflict 
the  torture  that  he  could  upon  his  helpless  victim.  See  latent 
retort  of  scorn : 

"  The  man  who  dies  by  the  adder's  fang 
May  have  the  crawler  crushed,  but  feels  no  anger; 
'Twas  the  worm's  nature,  and  some  men  are  worms 
In  soul,  more  than  the  living  things  of  tombs." 

This  withering  scorn  of  one  of  the  immortal  poets  in  speak- 
ing of  a  low,  base,  depraved  nature,  might  be  supposed  to  have 
been  his  thought  whilst  undergoing  the  instinctive  brutality 
of  this  crawling  creature.  And  here  comes  in  the  reason  for 
selecting  this  spot  as  the  place  of  our  meeting.  On  an  invalid 
couch  and  within  sound  of  my  voice  lies  a  noble  sick  lady. 
For  over  twenty  years  she  has  hardly  left  that  bed  of  suffering 
for  a  day  at  a  time.  Her  admiration  and  veneration  for 
this  world  hero  surpasses  that  of  any  that  I  have  ever  known, 
except  my  own.  When  refused  and  denied  by  his  resplendent 
jailor  the  commonest  necessaries  and  comforts  of  life,  even 
down  to  a  sufficiency  of  bedding,  after  that  solace  of  an  old 
soldier,  his  pipe,  had  been  taken  away  from  him,  it  occurred 
to  this  truly  good  woman  that  a  thick,  warm  quilt  might 
lessen  his  sufferings,  and  thereupon  she  made  one  and  sent 
it  to  him  post-haste.     Her  unpretentious  life  has  been  replete 

[290] 


APPENDIX. 

with  beautiful  little  benefactions  and  Christian  charities,  but 
none  has  reached  the  standard  of  this.  I  am  prepared  to  be- 
lieve on  the  glass  of  cold  water  basis  that  for  this  one  good 
act  alone,  when  she  knocks  at  the  golden  gates,  there  will  be 
but  little  question  of  admission  on  the  part  of  the  gate-keeper. 
Never  was  gift  more  thankfully  received,  as  evinced  in  his 
loving  inquiries  about  the  donor  on  the  occasion  of  my  last 
visit  to  him,  six  weeks  before  his  death.  Young  ladies,  if  I 
had  been  born  of  your  sex  and  hers  I  would  rather  have 
been  the  maker  and  giver  of  that  bed-spread  to  that  poor, 
suffering,  but  immortal  man,  than  any  Zenobia,  Cleopatra  or 
Semiramis  who  has  figured  in  history.  Hence,  although  I 
had  about  resolved  never  to  try  and  speak  in  public  again  J 
nevertheless  when  her  request  came  for  me  to  do  so  on  this 
occasion,  it  wasn't  in  me  to  say  nay.  And  so  Mrs.  Jessie  K. 
Kyle  is  solely  responsible  for  the  infliction  you  will  undergo 
to-day.  And  yet  mock-modesty  does  not  forbid  the  remark 
that,  in  some  respects  few  living  men  are  better  suited  to  the 
task.  Few  knew  him  better  or  longer,  and  none  honored  and 
revered  him  more  in  life  and  death.  Truly  can  I  say  of  him 
what  I  published  of  another  in  The  Boston  Herald,  in  a  let- 
ter written  from  Rome  some  five  and  forty  years  ago.  It 
was  the  spontaneous  outburst  of  a  young  patriot  of  demoniac 
fury  about  to  burst  over  his  own  beloved  land :  "To-day  we 
stood  on  the  spot  where  stood  the  bridge  defended  by  'The 
Codes'  in  the  brave  days  of  Rome.  Well  do  I  recall  the  day, 
when  as  an  unsophisticated  country  school  boy  I  first  perused 
the  enchanting  story,  and  I  thought  then,  as  I  think  now,  that 
I  would  rather  have  been  that  bold  plebian  with  naught  to 
commend  him  of  which  we  are  aware,  save  a  strong  arm, 
a  stout  heart,  and  a  free,  unfettered  spirit,  backed  by  a  pa- 
triotism paramount  to  every  other  consideration,  than  all 
of  the  Alexanders  and  Attilas,  Totilas  and  Tamerlanes,  Caes- 
ars and  Bonapartes,  who  have  been  the  curse  of  their  kind, 
combined  and  consolidated  in  one  grand  legitimate  cut-throat. 
That  was  penned  by  a  mere  boy  near  a  half  a  century  bygone. 
Let  him  substitute  the  identity  of  another  Horatius,  another 
for  the  captain  of  the  gate,  a  Codes  for  a  Codes  (blind  of 
one  eye),  or,  to  make  it  plain,  Jefferson  Davis  for  Horatius, 
and  by  my  conscience  I  stick  to  what  was  then  uttered.     Yea, 

[291] 


APPENDIX. 

verily,  rather  be  that  frail,  half-blind  man,  the  later  on  "Cap- 
tain of  the  Gate,"  and  '"Holder  of  the  Bridge,"  at  times  like 
his  prototype  of  antiquity,  almost  single-handed,  and  ever 
with  an  "eye  single"  to  his  high  and  holy  trust,  than  the 
whole  aggregation  of  great  captains  only,  who  have  reddened 
the  earth  solely  for  selfish  aim  and  greed  of  gain.  My  last 
interviews  with  this  superbest  of  men  that  I  have  ever  known, 
and  I  am  prepared  to  believe  that  the  world  has  ever  known, 
came  on  invitation  to  visit  him,  only  six  or  eight  weeks  before 
he  left  us.  Perhaps  the  invitation  was  not  accepted  by  re- 
turn of  mail,  and  I  didn't  put  in  an  appearance  at  "Beauvoir" 
as  fast  as  steam  would  take  me.  But  such  inference  is  im- 
probable, and  not  true  to  the  record.  The  three  or  four  days 
passed  in  that  charming  abode  are  amongst  the  most  delight- 
ful in  recall  through  a  somewhat  eventful  life.  The  great 
man  was  there  in  his  beautiful,  simple,  ©very-day  domestic 
life,  and  so  was  his  devoted  wife,  and  loving  and  most  lovable 
daughter,  "Our  Winnie,"  who  bore  before  and  thence  on  the 
proudest  title  ever  worn  by  woman,  save  one,  and  wore  ilj 
with  honor  and  without  reproach,  a  title  transcending  even 
that  of  queenly  Cornelia,  of  "daughter  of  the  Scipios  and 
mother  of  the  Gracchi,"  her  throne  far  outshining  those  of 
"Ind  or  Orme,"  or  that  of  any  other  Oriental  sultana  or 
imperial  princess  of  Rome,  for  whilst  they  might  sit  on  one 
of  ivory  and  gold  "the  Daughter  of  the  Confederacy"  had 
her's  enshrined  in  the  hearts  of  heroes  and  the  wives  and 
daughters  of  heroes.  John  Gordon,  I  thank  you  for  the 
soubriquet,  so  worthily  and  appropriately  bestowed  on  this 
fascinating  young  woman.     Let  none  other  ever  carry  it. 

In  the  welcome  of  this  historic  but  unpretentious  family, 
the  head  of  which  was  a  hero  in  three  wars,  and  the  architect 
or  formulator  of  the  most  phenomenal  republic  of  all  times, 
were  passed  three  of  the  happiest  and  best  improved  days  of 
my  life.  From  the  worthiest  of  the  disciples  of  the  great 
Calhoun,  a  little  teaching  could  but  come  to  a  would-be  dis- 
ciple of  his,  in  our  little  daily  talks.  A  single  recital  of  one 
incident,  to  illustrate  his  wonderful  nerve,  power  of  endur- 
ance and  celerty  of  thought  and  grasp,  is  here  reproduced: 
"After  the  Rifles  had  repulsed  the  attack  of  the  Lancers,  it 

[292] 


APPENDIX. 

soon  became  obvious  that  we  would  soon  nave  to  receive 
another  charge  in  overwhelming  force  (Buena  Vista),  and  I 
realized  that  a  change  of  line  of  battle  was  all  important. 
Shortly  after  the  necessary  order  was  issued,  and  in  process 
of  execution,  we  came  suddenly  on  a  gulch  or  chasm,  appa- 
rently about  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  across,  and  of  about  the 
same  depth,  and  sides  almost  precipitous.  There  was  no 
chance  to  flank  it.  in  time  for  the  occasion,  and  so  it  had  to  be 
crossed.  I  had  to  clear  it  en  volt,  a  leap.  Ordinarily,  I 
would  have  had  confidence  in  my  mount  to  clear  it,  for  he 
was  of  blood  and  mettle.  But  that  day  I  had  but  one  spur 
available.  But  crossed  it  had  to  be,  so  giving  orders  for  the 
command  to  scramble  down  and  up  the  side  as  best  they  could, 
I  went  back  some  fifty  yards  for  purchase  or  impetus,  and 
went  for  it  at  full  tilt  and  cleared  it  in  fine  style.  In  the 
instant  that  I  was  in  the  air,  I  saw  beneath  a  four-mule  team 
with  the  driver  in  the  agonies  of  death.  A  minute  later,  my 
men  were  crawling  up  the  bank  and  we  were  soon  in  line  and 
prepared  to  receive  our  visitors  in  a  proper  manner.  The  old 
soldier's  face  lit  up  with  the  fire  of  youth  and  old-time  con- 
flict as  he  told  the  story,  and  there  was  no  brag  or  bravado 
in  the  recital.  Behold  the  heroic  man  in  the  supreme  mo- 
ment of  decision  before  taking  that  perilous  vault  on  the 
success  of  which  hinged  the  issue  of  the  day  and  the  fate  of 
an  army.  This  is  the  man  whom  scullions  would  fain  de- 
grade by  the  pusilanimous  spite  of  expunging  his  name  from 
national  monuments  and  memorials,  which  owed  their  being 
to  his  patriotism  and  genius.  A  little  illustration  to  show 
the  folly  of  puny  and  puerile  spite  to  reverse  the  reading  of 
history.  One  day,  in  strolling  through  the  Dogeana,  or  Du- 
cal Palace  of  Venice,  I  came  into  the  famous  gallery  of  por- 
traits, containing  the  life  likenesses  of  all  the  sovereign  Ducal 
of  those  immortal  "Sea  Kings,"  all  save  one,  which,  was  an 
empty  frame  draped  in  black.  On  demanding  the  meaning 
of  my  guide,  the  reply  came,  "That  panel,  Senor,  is  the  one 
for  the  best  known  (for,  like  you,  every  stranger  asks  this 
cause  of  the  vacant  space),  and  many  think  the  most  illus- 
trious of  the  Dogeanic  line,  that  is  he  who  "tamed  the  Turk," 
and  curbed  Florence,  Pisa,  Genoa  and  Amalfi,  not  to  name 

[293] 


APPENDIX. 

the  new  city  on  the  straits  with  its  imperial  upstarts  of  the 
Palseologi  and  Commeni  stocks !  The  speaker  was  a  Vene- 
tian. Opposite  thereto,  in  the  Supreme  Court  room  in  Wash- 
ington, are  arranged  with  like  precision  as  to  detail  all  the 
Chief  Justices  of  the  United  States  of  America,  all  save  one, 
and  yet  some  there  be,  and  their  name  is  not  meagre,  who  hold 
and  maintain  that  the  aforesaid  vacant  frame  lacks  a  suitable 
head  in  the  chief  est  of  the  justiciaries  of  the  antecedent  high- 
sounding  cognomen.  ISTo !  Roger  B.  Taney  and  Jefferson 
Davis  are  there  to  stay,  as  will  that  of  the  good  old  Venetian, 
Marino  Faliero,  despite  party  pique  and  partisan  malevo- 
lence, and  the  expunging  chisel  or  wipeout  brush ;  they  are 
there  to  stay.  Pigmies  all  bear  it  in  mind  that  it  is  an  easy 
thing  to  do,  to  efface  or  obliterate  figies  of  giants.  Better  let 
this  kind  alone,  for  your  puny  scaling  ladders  and  expunging 
tools  can  never  reach  the  tip  of  their  beard. 

The  last  time  that  I  was  brought  into  contact  with  him  was 
at  his  gorgeous  funeral,  all  things  considered,  perhaps,  the 
most  imposing  and  impressive  ever  accorded  to  man,  for  it 
was  a  genuine  outgush  of  feeling  from  the  mighty  concourse 
assembled,  estimated  as  high  as  one  hundred  thousand,  and 
everything  was  conducted  in  the  plainest  and  simplest  man- 
ner, as  he  would  have  had  it,  for  he  loathed  vulgar  ostenta- 
tion, as  all  truly  great  men  do.  The  mighty  procession  fol- 
lowed on  foot  from  Virginia's  historic  capital  to  quiet  Holly- 
wood, where  we  laid  him  to  rest,  in,  perhaps,  the  most  beau- 
tiful spot  in  its  hallowed  domains,  overlooking  the  James 
from  about  its  highest  point.  On  the  march  and  at  the  grave, 
the  place  of  honor  was  accorded  our  delegation,  just  behind 
the  catafalque,  and  at  the  head  of  the  grave.  His  lately 
penned  letter  in  commendation  of  their  State,  written  to  the 
Fayetteville  committee  on  the  centennial  occasion,  called  for 
no  subordinate  place.  A  brief  space  thereafter,  and  some  of 
us  helped  to  place  the  remains  of  his  lovely,  gifted,  womanly 
daughter  by  his  side.  Her  funeral  fell  but  little  short  of 
his — and  there  they  rest,  this  father  and  daughter,  until  the 
resurrection  morn.  Never  higher  type  of  the  two  has  this 
world  seen.  Young  gentlemen  and  ladies,  their  portraiture 
is  given  in  brief  to  arouse  imitation  and  emulation.     Time 

[294] 


APPENDIX. 

forbids  further  elaboration.     Boys,  there  was  a  man,  a  com- 
bination, such  as  we  will  never  look  upon  his  like  again. 

You  will  find  the  study  of  his  life  and  character  and  that 
of  the  cause  which  he  embodied,  and  those  of  the  patriotic 
heroes  who  helped  to  uphold  his  hands  in  the  hours  of  trial, 
more  useful  and  instructive  reading  than  the  flashy  trash  with 
which  the  world  is  now  inundated.  Of  this  last  class  were 
such  men  as  Lee,  and  Sidney  Johnston,  and  Jackson  and  For- 
rest, and  Hampton,  and  Dick  Taylor,  and  Stuart,  and  the 
Hills,  and  the  Lees  (Steve  and  Custis),  and  half  a  million  of 
other  grand,  self-sacrificing,  patriotic  heroes,  some  few  of 
whom  still  linger  superfluous  on  the  stage,  whilst  the  bulk  of 
them  have  crossed  over  the  river  and  are  resting  in  the  shade 
of  the  trees.     Its  good  reading,  young  gentlemen. 

"  Lives  of  great  men  all  remind  us, 
We  can  make  our  lives  sublime, 
And  departing,  leave  behind  us 
Footprints  on  the  sands  of  time." 

And,  again,  from  a  favorite  old  volume  of  long  ago  (Fes- 
tus),  we  read:  "He  most  lives  who  thinks  most,  feels  the 
noblest,  acts  the  best."  All  of  this  he  did.  And  whilst  in 
the  quotation  mood  let  me  add  another  in  conclusion.  My 
wife  found  it  in  place  in  a  little  book  of  daily  devotions  the 
day  we  took  the  funeral  train  at  Greensboro,  May  30,  1893 : 
"And  thus  this  man  died,  leaving  his  death  an  example  of  a 
noble  courage  and  a  memorial  of  virtue,  not  only  unto  young 
men,  but  unto  all  his  nation."  (2  Macabees,  6th  chapter,  3d 
verse. ) 

Friends,  one  and  all,  let  me  urge  you  never  to  speak  of 
him  in  the  flippant  style  of  New  England  South-haters  as 
"Jeff  Davis."  It  comes  with  bad  grace  from  a  Southern 
tongue.  He  was  either  President  Davis,  or  plain,  simple  Mr. 
Davis. 

My  young  friends,  this  is  the  ninety-fifth  birthday  of  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  men  who  figure  in  history,  and  whose 
name  and  fame  should  be  held  dear  by  every  one  of  Southern 
birth,  now,  henceforth  and  forever. 

I  have  been  asked,  as  said,  by  our  dear  friend,  Mrs.  Kyle, 
who  lies  on  an  invalid  couch  near-by,  and  who  honors  his 

[295] 


APPENDIX. 

memory  almost  as  muck  as  I  do,  to  tell  you  a  little  of  what  I 
know  of  this  truly  good  and  great  man,  for  both  he  was,  and 
therein  lay  his  chiefest  claim  upon  our  regard.  How  few  fill 
the  hill  and  houor  the  "letter  of  credit"  on  posterity  as  he. 
A  truly  good  and  a  truly  great  man  in  combination !  Grand- 
est sight  to  men  or  gods  it  is — a  truly  good  and  a  truly 
great  man. 

The  world,  according  to  common  repute,  has  had  five  great 
captains  by  name  and  roster — Alexander,  Hannibal,  Caesar, 
Frederic,  Napoleon.  Great  soldiers  all  they  were,  but  not 
one  of  them  could  lay  claim  to  the  combination  laid  down  of 
truly  great  and  good.  They  lived  and  died  before  the  days 
of  Lee — the  superb,  the  peerless  soldier,  who,  by  common 
consent  of  all  competent  military  critics,  fills  the  sixth  place, 
and  the  needed  combination.  He,  too,  my  young  friends, 
God  be  praised,  was  one  of  us.  But  I  come  not  to  talk  to  you 
of  mere  soldiers  to-day,  though  no  occupation  is  more  worthy 
or  praiseworthy,  when  followed  in  a  righteous  cause,  in  a 
righteous  way  and  for  the  rights  of  man.  Xo  other  wars  or 
warriors  can  be  held  strictly  excusable  in  the  eye  of  God  and 
men.  God  be  eternally  praised,  ours  was  one  of  that  sort,  and 
no  cause  ever  had  grander  soldiers  or  more  of  them  in  pro- 
portion to  opposing  sides.  Sidney  Johnston,  Lee  and  Jack- 
son, with  Davis  as  directing  head,  would  sanctify,  ennoble 
and  glorify  any  cause  left  to  the  arbitrament  of  arms.  We 
challenge  any  single  war  to  match  that  immaculate  quartette 
of  immortals  in  chief  command.  Did  any  war  ever  have 
completer  type  of  justification,  not  to  speak  of  their  great 
lieutenants  down  and  through  the  rank  and  file,  who  knew 
how  to  die  themselves  and  to  teach  others  how  to  die  for  what 
they  knew  to  be  right? 

No,  it  is  not  of  the  Confederate  army,  but  of  the  civic  chief, 
without  whose  contriving  and  controlling  head  and  directing 
hand,  that  almost  invincible  army  as  it  soon  came  to  be  con- 
sidered, could  not  have  been  kept  afield  or  afoot  for  six 
months,  and  probably  not  for  sixty  days.  And  yet  for  four 
years,  under  his  superb  and  matchless  manipulation,  it  did 
and  endured  more  than  any  other  army  has  ever  done,  Greek, 
Roman  or  English  not  excepted.     Of  course,  after  the  forma- 

[296] 


APPENDIX. 

tive  crisis,  it  became  a  case  of  mutual  dependence  and  sup- 
port, the  one  on  the  other,  the  executive  on  the  army,  the  army 
on  the  executive.  Luckily  for  both  and  for  the  cause,  neither 
rarely  fell  short  in  its  allotted  work.  But  it  is  chiefly  of  the 
executive,  or  to  be  precise,  of  the  presidency,  and  of  him  who 
filled  it,  that  I  propose  to  talk  to  you  to-day.  Great  soldiers 
merely  have  been  no  rarity  in  the  world,  since  wholesale 
throat-cutting  first  came  into  vogue.  But  great  men,  all- 
round  men,  have  ever  been  and  will  ever  continue  to  be  more 
of  a  curiosity  and  a  historic  world  wonder.  The  great  Marl- 
borough, "Little  Jack  Churchill,"  was  undoubtedly  a  great 
soldier,  perhaps  until  Lee  put  in  an  appearance,  the  greatest 
of  all  the  English  speaking  ones  of  the  tribe,  but  who  in  the 
face  of  his  time-serving,  self-seeking  instincts  and  proclivities, 
and  easy  and  ever-shifting  political  principles,  and  infidelity 
to  faith  and  plighted  word,  would  ever  think  of  writing  his 
name  in  the  little  book  of  truly  great  men.  It  was,  I  repeat, 
for  the  last  named  as  a  professional  soldier  to  complete  the 
combination,  and  stand  forth  for  all  time  the  model  soldier 
and  ideal  man.  Most  fortunate  he  was  in  final  development, 
in  having  for  chief,  one  of  kindred  mould,  and  for  cause  one 
as  immaculate  as  the  untrodden  snow.  Both  in  unison  were 
essential  to  the  full  make-up  of  the  man.  He  could  never 
have  reached  his  full  stature  as  commander  of  the  "Tenth 
Legion"  under  Caesar,  or  of  the  "Rear  Guard"  on  the  great 
retreat  (freely  rendered,  "panic")  under  Xapoleon,  because, 
forsooth,  his  judgment  could  not  have  relied  on  the  captain, 
or  his  conscience  on  the  cause  in  either  case.  But  here  there 
was  the  entente  cordiale,  the  thorough  accord  all  around.  See 
the  outcome  the  grandest,  outcrop  of  creation,  Davis  and  Lee, 
the  grandest  brace  of  heroes  that  ever  immortalized  any  ante- 
cedent struggle  between  the  sons  of  men.  Are  you  not  proud, 
young  ladies  and  gentlemen,  that  you  are  of  the  same  race 
and  tribe  with  Jefferson  Davis  and  Robert  E.  Lee?  If  not, 
you  should  set  to  work  to  correct  the  defects  of  neglected  edu- 
cation. But  to  the  work  in  hand,  let  it  be  premised,  that  it 
was  my  proud  privilege  to  know  them  both,  and  the  one 
whom  we  are  considering,  intimately  from  my  boyhood  days 
to  that  of  his  death,  as  numerous  letters  from  him  can  attest, 

[297] 


APPENDIX. 

as  well  as  the  beqneatkal  of  his  inksand,  most  valued  heirloom 
in  my  house.  In  that  acquaintance  began,  ripened  and  con- 
tinued to  the  end,  is  the  secret  of  my  love,  admiration  and 
hero-worship  of  the  man.  It  has  never  flagged  or  grown  dim- 
mer, but  on  the  contrary  intensifies  with  each  recurring  year. 
My  first  acquaintance  with  him  began  during  his  first  term 
in  Congress,  when  he  was  a  man  of  37  years,  and  I  a  boy  of 
fourteen.  It  is  needless  to  say,  there  could  be  no  great  in- 
timacy between  two  of  our  divergent  ages,  but,  boarding  at 
the  same  house,  a  Mrs.  Potter's,  I  believe,  on  Pennsylvania 
avenue,  near  Sixth  street,  and  our  rooms  contiguous.  I  being 
the  only  juvenile  in  the  establishment,  (the  others  being  grave 
Senators  and  members  of  Congress,)  I  naturally  saw  much 
of  him  in  his  leisure  hours.  In  fact,  out  of  compliance  with 
my  father's  request,  who  was  his  friend,  but  absent  on  busi- 
ness, he  kept  a  kind  of  casual  supervisory  outlook  over  me 
until  I  was  consigned  to  my  college,  and  he  to  the  colonelcy 
of  the  First  Mississippi  Rifles,  in  the  Mexican  war,  which  he 
made  immortal  as  well  as  himself  by  his  superb  management. 
At  Buena  Vista,  it  is  generally  conceded  that  he  saved  the 
day  at  more  than  one  critical  juncture.  The  general  in  com- 
mand, sturdy  old  Zach  Taylor,  a  little  later  on,  lovingly 
dnbbed  "Old  Hough  and  Ready,"  realized  his  obligation  to 
him  at  once  and  although  connected  by  closest  family  tie, 
had  refused  to  extend  him  friendly  greeting  for  many  years 
anterior.  A  well  authenticated  story  has  it  that  without  dis- 
mounting after  battle  he  rode  over  to  the  colonel's  tent,  who 
was  lying  on  a  pallet  with  a  shattered  foot.  "Colonel  Davis," 
he  said,  "will  you  deign  to  take  my  hand  ?"  Quick  came  the 
reply:  "More  gladly,  general,  than  I  ever  did  anything  in  my 
life."  The  reconciliation  was  complete.  Girls,  would  you 
like  a  little  love  story  in  this  connection  ?  Well,  you  shall 
have  it.  Shortly  after  the  cadet  was  turned  into  a  lieutenant, 
he  was  sent  to  the  then  northwest,  to  wear  the  gilt  off  his 
epaulets  and  spurs,  and  to  help  catch  Black  Hawk,  the  fa- 
mous Indian  warrior,  who  was  making  things  lively  in  those 
parts. for  the  settlers.  This  was  done,  and  the  conquered  In- 
dians, including  their  chief,  were  prisoners  under  his  care. 
He  subsequently  received  the  thanks  of  Black  Hawk  for  his 

[298] 


APPENDIX. 

courtesy  to  the  conquered.  Quotation  this  last.  Observe  the 
difference  accorded  to  prisoners,  (though  only  barbarians),  by 
a  gentleman  jailor  and  that  received  by  himself  from  an  in- 
flated, upstart  tyrant  later  on  ?  Having  served  a  long  proba- 
tion as  a  prisoner  of  war  myself,  I  was  brought  in  touch  with 
each  class,  and  to  draw  the  line  of  demarcation  between  the 
two,  to  honor  the  one  and  to  loathe  and  despise  the  other.  If 
it  be  a  sin  to  put  the  systematic  torturer  of  our  "grand  old 
man"  in  the  contemptuous  class,  God  help  me,  I  can't  help  it, 
and  perhaps  I  am  not  disposed  to  make  an  over-strenuous 
effort  in  that  direction.  History  tells  us  of  many  brutal  keep- 
ers of  illustrious  State  prisoners.  Few,  if  any  there  are, 
whose  name  and  fame  I  covet  less  than  that  of  one  Simon-the- 
Cobbler,  the  torturer  unto  death  of  a  little  boy  king,  known 
as  the  Dauphin,  whose  only  crime  was  that  he  was  the  son 
of  his  father  and  mother,  known  in  history  as  Louis  XVI 
and  Marie  Antoinette,  who  were  murdered  by  the  insane  mob 
government  of  that  day.  The  question  arose  what  was  to  be 
done  with  their  poor  little  eight-year-old  orphan,  then  de 
facto  King  of  France.  Murder  him  they  could  as  they  had 
his  parents,  but  were  afraid  to  for  fear  of  intensifying  the 
horror  and  indignation  of  all  Europe,  already  at  fever  heat. 
So  it  was  resolved  to  accomplish  the  same  end  by  slow,  de- 
liberate, systematic  cruelty  and  torture.  But  where  could  a 
creature  so  base  be  found  as  to  carry  out  such  a  demoniac  pur- 
pose? It  was  at  that  juncture,  when  true  soldiers  held  back 
aghast,  that  this  creature,  more  loathsome  than  a  toad,  or 
vampire,  or  devil  fish,  came  for  name,  laterized,  as  soldier. 
Ye  Powers!  for  a  consideration  he  would  undertake  the  job. 
He  got  it,  yes,  Simon-the-Cobbler  was  promoted  to  be  the 
keeper  of  a  King  with  the  implied,  if  not  expressed,  condition, 
that  he  was,  like  the  fabled  vulture  of  old,  to  feed  on  the  vitals 
of  his  helpless  victim  until  the  vital  spark  was  sped.  He  com- 
plied with  his  part  of  the  contract  with  scrupulous  exacti- 
tude ! 

The  fancy  has  sometimes  come  over  me,  what  if  you  were 
reduced  to  the  dread  alternative  of  making  choice  between 
the  Cobbler  and  another  later  on  whose  name,  latinized,  is 
Soldier.   (Ye  Powers  eternal,  what  a  travesty  on  nomencla- 

[299] 


APPENDIX. 


ture!)  who  gladly  discharged  the  same  villainous  functions; 
which  would  you  rather  be  of  the  two  ?  The  question  still  re- 
mains unsettled  in  my  mind,  notwithstanding  the  difference 
in  prominence  and  position  of  the  jailors. 

But  to  come  back  to  our  story:  The  post  to  which  the 
young  man  was  assigned  was  under  the  command  of  a  bluff 
old  colonel  with  a  charming  daughter,  who  he  declared  with 
military  emphasis  and  intonation  should  never  marry  in  the 
army.  Now  that  was  just  what  the  young  lady  wanted  to 
do,  and  what  the  lieutenant  wanted  to  do  likewise.  But  the 
colonel  was  incorrigible,  and  the  young  couple,  being  respect- 
ors  of  parental  authority  and  military  mandate,  were  com- 
pelled to  put  off  the  nuptial  day  until  the  obstacles  could  be 
removed  or  avoided.  Two  years  later  he  resigned  his  com- 
mission, and  deeming  now  that  all  rational  objection  on  the 
part  of  her  father  was  removed,  he  hurried  to  Louisville, 
met  his  sweetheart,  and  the  twain,  Jefferson  Davis  and  Sarah 
Knox  Taylor,  were  married  at  the  house  of  the  bride's  aunt, 
a  sister  of  her  father,  with  other  near  relations  on  hand  to 
sanction  the  event  by  their  presence,  in  July,  1835.  All  the 
sensational  stories  about  an  elopement  are  purely  fabulous 
and  without  foundation.  Their  married  life  and  happiness 
was  all  too  short  lived,  for  in  three  short  months  he  was  a 
widower.  She  was  a  sister  of  the  accomplished  Lieutent-Gen- 
eral  Dick  Taylor,  who,  as  a  major-general  in  command,  won 
one  of  the  might-have-been  decisive  victories  of  the  war,  at 
Mansfield,  but  of  which  he  or  rather  we  were  cheated,  as  at 
Bull  Run  and  Shiloh  and  Murfresborough,  but  supernal  in- 
competency in  command  after  the  victories  were  won,  and 
who  afterwards  wrote  one  of  the  most  graphic  and  interesting 
books  of  the  war  yet  penned — "Destruction  and  Reconstruc- 
tion." The  sequel  of  the  story  has  been]  anticipated  in  the 
"make-up"  interview  between  the  two  on  the  field  of  Buena 
Vista,  the  older  giving  a  clincher  to  the  renewed  bond  of 
friendship  with  the  remark:  "I  am  convinced  Jefferson,  that 
Sarah  was  a  better  judge  of  men  than  her  father."  Each  of 
them  became  a  reluctant  President  later  on,  both  preferring 
the  camp  to  the  cabinet.  Their  bond  of  union  thence  on  to 
the  end  was  that  of  father  and  son. 

1.300] 


APPENDIX. 

On  the  26th  of  February,  1845,  Mr.  Davis  was  married  to 
his  second  wife,  the  gifted  and  accomplished  Varina  Howell, 
daughter  of  William  Burr  Howell,  and  grand-daughter  of 
Governor  Richard  Howell,  of  ISTew  Jersey,  who  still  survives 
him,  and  has  given  us  the  finest  and  most  complete  life  of  her 
illustrious  husband  yet  published  and  one  of  the  model  speci- 
mens of  biographical  literature  extant. 

President  Polk  tendered  him  the  commission  of  brigadier- 
general  in  recognition  of  his  services  at  Monterey  and  Buena 
Vista,  which  he  respectfully  declined,  owing  to  the  State's 
rights  views  and  doubts  as  to  the  right  of  appointing  power. 

"President  Pierce,  with  whom  he  had  been  domesticated 
for  a  winter  when  they  were  both  young  (I  think  at  Mrs.  Pot- 
ter's,) in  making  up  his  cabinet  in  1863,  urged  upon  Mr. 
Davis  the  acceptance  of  the  portfolio  of  war  and  he  reluct- 
antly took  his  place  in  the  executive  family  March  4th,  1853. 
His  conduct  of  the  Department  is  a  matter  of  public  record. 
The  army  was  judiciously  but  emphatically  strengthened ; 
the  coast  was  more  fully  defended ;  the  coast  survey  and 
geodetic  observations  were  extended ;  and  the  fields  of  as- 
tronomy, zoology,  botany  and  meteorology  were  fully  ex- 
ploited. 

"He  ordered  the  survey  for  the  construction  of  the  Pacific 
railway;  added  to  the  fortifications  of  the  Xew  England  and 
Pacific  coasts ;  repressed  Indian  hostilities,  and  provided  for 
the  more  speedy  transportation  of  guns  and  ammunition  in 
case  of  need.  He  recommended  national  armories,  urged  the 
extension  of  the  pension  system  to  widows  and  orphans  of 
soldiers  and  took  the  initiatory  measures  for  a  retired  list. 

"He  also  had  charge  of  the  enlargement  of  the  national 
capitol  by  the  addition  of  two  wings  to  provide  a  new  senate 
chamber  and  hall  of  representatives  and  the  construction  of 
a  more  imposing  dome  to  the  structure. 

"Under  his  administration  the  Washington  aqueduct  and 
Cabin  John  Bridge  was  built,  the  largest  single  span  arch  in 
the  world.  President  Pierce's  cabinet  presents  the  only  in- 
stance in  the  history  of  a  presidential  administration  in  which 
no  change  was  made  in  the  personnel.  Mr.  Davis  was  re- 
turned to  the  United  States  Senate  by  the  Legislature  of  Mis- 

[301] 


APPENDIX. 

sissippi  in  1857  and  took  bis  seat  March.  4th,  immediately  on 
leaving  the  cabinet.  On  a  visit  to  Boston  he  spoke  at  Eaneuil 
Hall  on  October  12th,  1858,  on  the  condition  of  the  country 
and  the  dangers  besetting  it.  He  pleaded  for  the  protection 
of  the  independence  of  the  States  for  which  ~New  England 
and  all  the  States  fought,  and  for  a  strict  construction  of  the 
constitution,  framed  and  adopted  by  the  founders. 

Such  was  this  man.  Jefferson  Davis,  the  only  President 
of  the  Confederate  States.  In  a  word,  and  take  him  all  for 
all,  he  was  in  universal  heroic  attribute  to  the  closest  copy 
of  the  Immortal  Roman  that  I  have  ever  seen  in  life  or  in 
books.  That  he  was  a  patrician,  polished,  cultured  and  re- 
fined, goes  without  question.  A  soldier,  orator,  organizer, 
writer  of  highest  type  in  combination,  since  Imperial  Cassar 
passed,  is  my  estimation  of  the  man.  Let  some  other  nomi- 
nate a  worthier  if  he  can.  Add  the  highest  attributes  of  self- 
negation,  unselfishness  and  patriotic  devotion  to  lifelong  and 
unswerving  principles,  and  some  may  think  that  the  reputed 
first  of  men  should  take  the  second  place  in  the  computation." 


Address  by  Col.  W.  J.  Green,  January  19,  1905,  Before  the 
J.  E.  B.  Stuart  Chapter,  U.  D.  C. 

Daughters  of  the  Confederacy :  At  your  bidding  I  am  here 
to  talk  to  you  of  two  of  the  grandest  men  that  the  world  has 
known.  ]STor  can  I  imagine  a  more  appropriate  beginning 
than  the  opening  words,  on  a  similar  occasion,  of  the  most 
valued  friend  whom  I  have  known  in  life ;  one  whom  I  loved 
next  to  my  father.  What  shall  his  title  be  ?  State  Governor, 
H.  S.  Senator,  Lieutenant-General,  or  simply  that  inborn, 
ingrained,  undeviating  gentleman  ?  for  each,  and  all  he  was  at 
times,  and  the  last  at  all  times.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  his 
name  is  Wade  Hampton.  It  is  culled  from  his  eloquent  ad- 
dress delivered  before  the  Society  of  Confederate  Soldiers  and 
sailors  in  Maryland  on  the  12th  of  October,  1871,  on  the 
Life  and  Character  of  General  Robert  E.  Lee.  Taken  as  a 
whole,  it  is  one  of  the  most  exquisite  eulogies  that  has  ever 
fallen  under  my  eye.  Every  word  and  utterance  was  felt  to 
the  core,  for  the  two  were  of  kindred  soul,  and  twin  brothers 

[302] 


APPENDIX. 

in  loftiest  patriotism  and  sublime  self -negation.  Here  is  the 
excerpt  alluded  to  with  conjoint  regret  that  time  and  occasion 
calls  for  any  excerpt  from  that  superb  production  instead  of 
giving  it  entire:  "Whilst  appreciating  the  compliment  that 
brings  me  before  you,  it  is  with  a  profound  sense  of  my  in- 
ability to  'rise  to  the  height  of  this  great  argument,'  that  I 
assume  the  duty  of  your  kindness  has  imposed;  nor  would  I 
venture  to  do  so,  comrades  of  the  Confederate  service,  were 
it  not  that  it  seems  to  me  no  duty  can  be  more  sacred  than 
that  which  bids  every  true  man  of  the  South,  at  all  times, 
by  all  means,  in  all  places,  to  pay  homage  to  the  character, 
and  honor  to  the  memory  of  our  great  leader.  To  myself, 
whose  good  fortune  it  was  <x>  follow  that  illustrious  Chief 
from  the  beginning  to  the  close  of  the  marvelous  career,  which 
has  placed  his  name  by  the  side  of  those  of  the  world's  great- 
est captains — who  witnessed  his  grand  magnanimity  in  the 
flush  of  his  proudest  triumphs — his  sublime  serenity  in  the 
hour  of  disaster — who  was  sustained  by  his  constant  faith  in 
the  justice  of  his  cause,  encouraged  by  his  kindness,  and  hon- 
ored by  his  friendship — this  call  to  join  in  doing  honor  to 
his  memory  has  the  saucity  and  the  tenderness  that  death 
alone  can  give.  Once  again  and  for  the  last  time,  I  seem 
placed  on  duty  in  the  service  of  my  old  commander,  and  the 
voice  that  summons  me  here,  waking  many  of  the  proudest, 
though  saddest  emotions  of  my  heart,  comes  from  the  tomb 
of  him  who,  'though  dead,  yet  speaketh.'  " 

Ladies:  By  the  received  verdict  of  recognized  judges  in 
such  matters,  the  five  great  captains  of  anthentic  history, 
naming  them  in  point  of  time,  were:  Alexander,  Hannibal, 
Csesar,  Frederic,  and  Napoleon.  Just  precisely  the  number 
that  there  are  fingers  on  the  hand.  But  circumscribed  as  was 
the  limit,  it  was  held  immune  from  intrusion  of  soldiers  of 
inferior  sort  or  minor  degree  until  some  forty  years  ago,  when 
bolder  iconoclasts  of  our  own  great  tongue  made  room  by  way 
of  deposition  for  two  of  their  own  unequalled  race.  'The  mad 
boy  of  Macedon,'  and  the  almost  equally  mad  Sage  of  Braden- 
burg?  were  told  by  these  to  descend  from  their  pedestals  and 
make  obeisance  to  Marlborough  and  Lee.  So  it  stands  to- 
day, and  probably  will  continue  for  centuries  to  come.  Quin- 

[303] 


APPENDIX. 


tette  of  the  incarnate  gods  of  war;  here  they  are:  Hannibal, 
Csesar,  Napoleon,  Churchill,  Lee.  But  grand  as  they  are, 
and  as  are  the  two  called  down,  ye  powers,  how  they  pale  be- 
fore the  courtly  gentleman  and  unpretentious  schoolmaster  of 
Lexington.  Who  would  hesitate  in  the  right  of  choice,  as 
between  him  and  Imperial  Caesar  ?  Not  I,  forsooth.  And  so 
by  my  vote  he  stands  the  foremost  man  of  recorded  time,  Paul 
alone  excepted. 

Not  that  it  is  proposed  to  claim  equality  of  plane  in  intel- 
lectual development  and  varied  achievement  between  him  or 
any  other  and  the  phenomenal  all-sided  man  of  Rome;  but 
it  is  a  moot  question,  and  ever  will  be,  until  true  story  of 
this  glorious  epoch  is  written,  if  written  it  ever  will  be; 
could  even  he,  "noblest  man  that  ever  lived  in  the  tide  of 
times,"  have  done  as  much  under  like  dearth  of  men,  money 
and  munitions  ?  If  not,  then  it  is  clear  that  Robert  E.  Lee 
is  entitled  to  his  new  elevation  into  the  exclusive  five  awarded 
him  by  a  jury,  composed  of  such  as  Wolseley,  Freemantle, 
Chesney,  Henderson,  and  Long,  whose  claim  to  the  proud 
title  of  Military  Critics,  is  acknowledged  around  the  world. 
See  what  the  first  two,  who  made  the  Pennsylvania  campaign 
under  him,  for  the  avowed  purpose  of  studying  war  under  the 
greatest  soldier  of  the  age,  have  to  say.  General  Lord  Wolse- 
ley, head  of  the  English  army,  has  this  to  say:  "I  would 
instance  Caesar,  Hannibal,  Marlbourough,  Napoleon  and  Gen- 
eral Lee,  as  men  who  possessed  what  I  regard  as  the  highest 
development  of  military  genius — men  who  combined  with  the 
strategic  grasp  of  Von  Moltke  and  the  calm  wisdom  and  just 
reasoning  of  Wellington,  all  the  power  of  Marshal  Bugeaud 
and  of  Souwaroff  to  inflame  the  imagination  of  their  soldiers, 
and  impart  to  them  some  of  the  fiery  spirit  of  reckless  daring 
which  burned  within  their  own  breasts." 

One  other  excerpt  from  Col.  Freemantle,  commanding  of- 
ficer of  the  "Cold-stream  Guards,"  the  crack  regiment  of  the 
English  army  of  that  day,  must  suffice  in  laudation  of  this 
incomparable  hero  and  leader  of  heroes,  the  incarnation  and 
embodiment  of  poetic  Spain's  fabled  demigod,  "the  Cid  Cam- 
peador,"  barring  the  latter's  disregard  of  plighted  truth,  and 
proclivity  to  Treason,  both  of  which  were  beyond  his  capacity. 

[304] 


APPENDIX. 

Quoting  from  a  perusal,  nearly  forty  years  ante-date,  and  for 
which,  allowance  must  hence  be  made,  this  in  effect,  is  what 
the  gifted  Englishman  says  of  his  cousin  over  the  water :  "He 
is  the  grandest  and  stateliest  man  that  I  have  met  in  life, 
whether  afoot  or  in  the  saddle,  but  especially  the  last.  Se- 
rious but  not  over  solemn,  his  every  glance  and  utterance  indi- 
cates the  soldier  and  the  man  of  thought.  Free  from  the 
minor  f aidts  and  foibles  of  manhood,  such  as  levity,  drinking, 
swearing,  smoking,  chewing,  etc.,  his  bitterest  enemies,  of 
whom  there  are  few,  have  never  accused  him  of  being  addicted 
to  any  of  the  greater.  ''Can  pen  portraiture  of  a  perfect  char- 
acter go  further  %  Ladies,  you  will  pardon  my  introducing  a 
little  more  quotation  from  illustrious  contemporaries  of  our 
father  land,  bearing  on  the  subject,  and  whose  estimate  is 
naturally  free  from  bias  and  prejudice  of  participants  in  the 
mighty  struggle  of  which  he  was  the  military  head.  Better 
such  than  my  crude  opinions,  and  better  ten  thousand  times 
told,  than  the  perverted,  distorted,  malicious  and  mendacious 
statements  of  so-called  historians,  God  save  the  mark !  have 
essayed  to  do  through  forty  years  of  counterfeit  peace,  by  a 
prostitution  of  their  base  talents  to  belittling  him  and  his 
cause,  a  task  which  baffled  about  three  millions  of  armed  foe- 
men,  including  John  Pope  and  a  gentleman  down  there,  who 
shall  be  nameless,  through  four  years  that  he  was  on  the  back 
of  old  "Traveller,"  and  had  attenuated  legions  within  call. 
History  forsooth  of  the  United  States  of  America !  None  of 
the  recent  trashy  stuff  for  my  posterity,  if  my  interdict  would 
prevent  it.  Better  Munchausen,  Jack,  the  Giant  Killer, 
Aladdin  and  his  lamp,  and  other  such  transparent  History, 
to  the  nauseating  fiction  of  post  bellum  days,  which  sails 
under  the  counterfeit  and  fictitious  title  "History." 

~No  modern  history  of  the  United  States  for  me  and  mine, 
until  it  is  penned  beyond  the  shadow  of  Bunker's  Hill,  and 
by  impartial  hand. 

The  most  veracious  and  reliable  history  of  the  American 
Revolution  ever  penned,  as  conceded  by  both  sides  in  the 
struggle,  was  written  by  the  Italian,  Dr.  Botta,  who  had  never 
set  foot  in  the  ]STew  World.  Let  us  of  the  South  bide  the 
coming  of  a  second  Botta  to  do  the  same  for  us,  if  no  son  of 
20  [  305  ] 


APPENDIX. 

the  soil  to  the  manner  born,  arises  to  essay  the  stupendous 
work,  and  carries  it  out  to  a  successful  conclusion.  Until  that 
day  arrives,  let  the  story  be  unwritten,  if  samples  these  be, 
or  at  least  unre„ad  by  Southern  youth  through  time  and  eter- 
nity. Give  us  Munchausen  in  preference  to  mock  heroics  and 
mandacious  statements,  palmed  off  by  lying  knaves  for  ture 
recital.  But  to  leave  off  digression.  Professor  George  Long, 
one  of  the  most  profound  scholars  of  his  day,  having  an 
intense  admiration  for  the  great  and  good  Aurelius,  whom 
he  seemed  to  regard  as  the  most  perfect  of  men,  compiled  and 
published  the  thoughts  of  his  ideal  hero. 

The  book  was  hardly  out  of  press,  before  it  was  pirated  by 
a  Northern  publisher,  and  dedicated  to  a  learned  doctor  pro- 
fundus of  that  quarter  by  the  name  Emerson.  The  English 
author  was  naturally  outraged  by  such  unwarrantable  impu- 
dence, not  to  give  it  the  less  euphonic  name  of  forgery,  and  ex- 
presses his  opinion  in  the  prefatory  of  the  ensuing  edition, 
as  here  follows :  "I  have  never  dedicated  a  book  to  any  man, 
and  if  I  dedicated  this,  I  should  choose  the  man  whose  name 
seems  to  be  most  worthy  to  be  joined  to  that  of  the  Roman 
soldier  and  philosopher.  I  might  dedicate  the  book  to  the 
successful  general  who  is  now  President  of  the  United  States, 
with  the  hope  that  his  integrity  and  justice  will  restore  peace 
and  happiness,  so  far  as  he  can,  to  those  unhappy  States  who 
have  suffered  so  much  from  war  and  the  unrelenting  hostility 
of  wicked  men.     But  as  the  Roman  poet  says: 

"  Victrix  causa  deis  placuit,  sed  victa  Catoni." 

And  if  I  dedicated  this  little  book  to  any  man,  I  would 
dedicate  it  to  him  who  led  the  Confederate  armies  against  the 
powerful  invader,  and  retired  from  an  unequaled  task  de- 
feated, but  not  dishonored;  to  the  noble  Virginia  soldier  whose 
talents  and  virtues  place  him  by  the  side  of  the  best  and 
wisest  man  who  sat  on  the  throne  of  the  imperial  Csesars." 

Observe  another  tribute  from  another  English  admirer, 
Philip  Stanhope  Worsley,  a  poet  of  no  mean  merit,  with  a 
stanza  added  to  the  cause : 


[306] 


APPENDIX. 

"  To  General  Lee, 
The  most  stainless  of  living  Commanders, 
And  except  in  fortune,  the  greatest, 
This  volume  is  presented 
With  the  writer's  earnest  sympathy, 
And  respectful  admiration." 

"  Ah  realm  of  tears  ! — but  let  her  bear 
This  blazon  to  the  end  of  time: 
No  nation  rose  so  white  and  fair, 
None  fell  so  pure  of  crime. 

"  The  widow's  moan,  the  orphan's  wail, 

Come  round  thee ;  but  in  truth  be  strong ; 
Eternal  Right,  though  all  else  fail, 
Can  never  be  made  Wrong." 

It  would  seem  to  be  a  recognized  fact  that  all  truly  great 
Captains  require  at  least  one  lieutenant,  or  coadjutor  of  kin- 
dred calibre  to  assist  in  developing  or  carrying  out  the  col- 
lossal  conceptions  of  the  originating  brain.  Caeesar  had  his 
in  the  legionary  chief  of  the  immortal  "Tenth/'  Marlborough 
his  in  Eugene,  Wallenstein  in  Tilly,  Frederick  his  in  Zlethen, 
Washington  in  Greene,  Napoleon  perhaps  none  of  marked 
and  supereminent  degree,  because  forsooth,  he  insisted  upon 
being  both  in  one.  Like  Bottom  the  Weaver,  he  insisted  on 
playing  all  parts  in  the  play  himself.  If  he  had  such,  it  was 
the  heroic  commander  on  the  return  from  Moscow,  when  old 
Michael  Ney,  as  chief  of  "The  Rear  Guard, "  was  saving  the 
remnants  of  a  disorganized  army  left  without  a  directing 
head.  These  undoubtedly  were  priceless  coadjutors  to  generals 
in  command.  But  how  far  short  they  fell  to  Lee's  unmatched 
lieutenant,  the  unmatchable  Jackson.  The  two  seemed  de- 
signed for  each  other,  and  for  the  great  occasion  in  which 
they  were  to  act  in  respective  role,  so  symmetrically  were  they 
adjusted  each  for  his  work.  "Better  it  had  been  me  than  he," 
exclaims  the  great  captain  when  he  hears  of  the  untimely  fall 
of  the  other.  "Not  so,  quoth  the  wounded  hero,  better  a  hun- 
dred dead  Jacksons  than  one  Lee.  I  would  have  followed 
him  blindfolded  around  the  world."  This  showed  the  recip- 
rocal trust  subsisting  between  the  two,  and  never  was  there 
a  grander  alliance  between  Titanic  spirits  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  a  mutual  grand  purpose.  In  that  little  word  "trust" 
lay  the  secret  of  this  man's  phenomenal,  marvelous  success. 

[307] 


APPENDIX. 

Coupled  to  his  native  war  genius,  he  had  implicit  trust  in 
the  justice  and  integrity  of  his  cause,  and  absolute  trust  and 
reliance  on  his  two  superiors,  the  one  up  yonder,  the  other 
down  here. 

He  likewise  had  implicit  trust  in  himself  and  his  invincible 
"foot  cavalry,"  who  returned  it  to  overplus.  With  such  a 
sublime  combine  of  trust,  not  the  God  forsaken,  unhallowed 
thing  of  later  times,  no  wonder  he  accomplished  almost  mir- 
acles. By  good  judges  the  grandest  feat  of  the  "little  cor- 
poral" was  the  overthrow  on  lake  Garda  of  the  two  great 
armies  in  three  consecutive  days,  each  his  numerical  superior, 
having  left  his  base  around  beleaguered  Mantna  virtually  de- 
pleted, in  order  to  supply  him  with  his  little  army  for  offen- 
sive operations  against  the  advancing  hordes.  The  strategist 
of  that  day  and  of  succeeding  days  has  branded  the  conception 
madness;  the  result  renders  a  different  verdict,  and  pro- 
nounces it  sublime  strategy.  Be  it  which  it  may,  it  had  it's 
replica  on  the  banks  of  the  Shenandoah,  when  the  great  lieu- 
tenant caught  up  with  his  chief  quartermaster,  Banks,  whose 
duty  (enforced)  was  to  supply  his  men  with  shoes,  blankets, 
powder  and  provant,  and  himself  with  lemons.  Gen.  Dick 
Taylor  says  that  he  had  an  insatiate  appetite  for  that  acrid 
fruit  and  was  always  sucking  one,  when  resting  on  a  march, 
and  to  supply  himself  with  that  tropical  delicacy,  the  men 
were  wont  to  say  that  he  kept  the  commissary  trains  under 
constant  contribution,  or  else  in  dread  apprehension  (be  it 
understood,  the  enemy's  commissariat.)  But  General  Dick, 
in  his  appetite  for  epigrams  or  antithesis  must  sometimes  be 
taken,  'cum  grano,'  for  he  intimates  very  broadly  in  his  faci- 
nating  book  that  'old  Jack,  was  a  crazy  man.  If  so  it  be, 
President  Davis  might  have  plagiarized  his  brother  President 
across  the  line  of  mark  when  told  that  his  new  and  last  ap- 
pointee to  chief  command  was  a  little  too  given  to  turning 
the  little  finger  above  his  dexter.  "If  I  only  knew  his  brand 
of  whiskey,"  quoth  Abraham,"  I'd  send  a  barrel  to  each  of 
my  commanding  Generals."  Mr.  Davis  might  have  said  to 
his  illustrious  brother-in-law,  on  basis  of  insinuation,  "I  wish 
I  knew  the  mandrake  that  incites  such  madness." 

His  piety  or  rather  sanctity  amounted  to  almost  austerity,. 

[308] 


APPENDIX. 

such  as  is  rarely  seen  in  camps,  or  in  cathedrals  either.  It  im- 
pressed his  followers  more  forcibly  than  did  'old  Noll's'  his 
round-heads,  for  there  could  be  no  doubt  of  its  sincerity. 

But  to  return  to  the  comparison  of  results  on  Lake  Garda 
and  the  Shenandoah,  this  must  be  said  to  the  extra  credit  of 
the  Corsican  over  the  Predestinarian.  The  first  had  for  an- 
tagonists trained  soldiers  and  supposed  masters  of  strategy, 
such  as  Wurmser,  Alvinzi,Davidovich  and  Prevara,  whilst  the 
other  was  pitted  against  militia  captains  and  bombastic  pre- 
tenders, like  Banks,  Milroy,  Fremont  and  Pope,  in  which 
last  category  must  be  excepted  that  sturdy  old  Irishman, 
Shields,  who  with  odds  of  three  to  one  in  his  favor,  became 
the  half  hero  of  Kernstown,  and  might  have  been  the  whole 
one,  had  it  not  been  for  that  insuperable  stonewall  in  his  way. 
Appropos  of  that  event :  Shortly  after  the  war,  one  of  Jack- 
son's old  troopers  was  called  upon  to  introduce  Gen.  Shields 
to  a  Democratic  audience  in  Missouri,  which  he  did  in  the 
following  neat,  pithy  and  pointed  style  as  "the  countryman 
and  political  follower  of  one  Jackson,  a  hero  in  three  wars, 
a  United  States  Senator  from  two  or  three  States,  and  the 
man  who  came  nearer  whipping  the  other  Jackson,  whose 
surname  is  Stonewall,  than  any  other  man  ever  did,  and  he 
didn't  do  it  by  a  d — n  long  sight." 

Pardon  another  anecdote  which  my  old  and  honored 
friend,  Hunter  McGuire,  his  chief  of  the  medical  staff,  gave 
me  during  one  of  our  long  talks  about  his  idolized  com- 
mander. It  is  told  simply  to  illustrate  his  sublime  self- 
reliance,  the  predominant  trait  of  all  the  greatest  soldiers  of 
all  time.  Said  the  Doctor :  "I  was  riding  with  him  on  the  re- 
treat from  Kernstown,  which  I  felt  sure  had  been  decided 
on  against  his  approval.  Notwithstanding  the  great  disparity 
of  odds  against  us,  both  in  hand  and  within  reach,  I  had 
never  seen  his  brow  so  lowering  and  with  every  indication  of 
ill  humor  and  discontent.  After  riding  along  in  silence  for 
awhile,  he  remarked :  "I  have  just  done  a  thing  that  I  have 
never  done  before,  and  shall  never  do  again.  A  council  of 
war  leaves  the  general  in  command  saddled  with  all  of  the 
responsibility,  but  impotent  to  follow  his  matured  convic- 
tions, if  a  majority  of  the  tribunal  prefer  a  counter  course. 

[309] 


APPENDIX. 

It  was  and  is  my  belief  that  at  the  worst  stage  of  the  fight  we 
had  at  worst  an  even,  chance,  and,  if  successful,  the  results 
in  our  favor  would  have  been  incalculable."  Some  there  be 
who  think  that  for  once,  and  on  this  occasion,  it  will  be  the 
cause  of  regret  for  all  time  that  he  did  not  follow  the  example 
of  his  imperious  and  imperial  prototype,  when,  wrapped  up 
in  his  old  gray  overcoat  around  a  camp  fire,  he  would  call 
for  the  opinions  of  his  grizzled  marshals  at  some  grave  junc- 
ture, and,  after  hearing  all,  would  drily  remark:  "Gentlemen 
your  reasons  are  cogent,  but  whilst  hearing  them  I  have  de- 
cided on  a  plan  of  my  own.  The  council  is  adjourned."  His 
usually  turned  out  the  best. 

Ladies,  you  have  in  brief,  my  conception  of  the  character 
of  this  brace  of  most  remarkable  men.  Immaculate  in  mor- 
ality and  Christian  charity,  transcendent  in  genius  and  fit- 
ness for  the  work  they  were  called  on  to  perform.  There  were 
two  others  of  kindred  type  and  lofty  soul,  who,  taken  in  con- 
nection with  them,  constitute  the  most  superlative  quartette 
of  immortals  that  ever  reflected  undying  lustre  on  the  self- 
same cause  in  the  self-same  epoch.  Jefferson  Davis  and  Sid- 
ney Johnston  are  their  names.  Ladies,  these  four  were  typi- 
cal of  the  race  to  which  you  belong,  the  cause  which  you 
revere.  ~No  wonder  you  are  proud  of  your  paternity,  and  of 
their  unsullied  escutcheon  in  the  noblest,  purest,  sublimest  of 
earthly  struggles.  ]STo  wonder  you  exult  in  the  soubriquet 
you  wear:  'Daughters  of  the  Confederacy,'  and  of  Confeder- 
ate heroes,  I  doff  my  cap  and  salute  you  in  all  deference  and 
humility  for  trying  to  keep  alive  the  spark  of  sacred  memor- 
ies, which  others  of  the  sterner  sex  seem  equally  anxious  to 
extinguish  with  frivolities,  (suggesting). 

"  You  have  the  Pyrrhic  dance  as  yet, 
Where  is  the  Pyrrhic  phalanx  gone  ? 
Of  two  such  lessons,  why  forget 

The  nobler  and  the  manlier  one  ? 
You  have  the  letters  Cadmus  gave — 
Think  ye  he  meant  them  for  a  slave? " 

It  was  a  proud  privilege  to  have  been  the  countryman,  the 
comrade,  the  follower  (even  in  subordinate  station)  the 
friend  of  some  of  them,  trivial  honors  though  some  might 
view  them,  which  would  not  be  exchanged  for  any  commis- 

[310] 


APPENDIX. 

sion  bearing  Mr.  Lincoln's  signature,  with  all  the  subsequent 
honors  accruing  to  the  possessor.  It  was  deemed  a  holy  duty 
at  the  time,  and  has  been  so  held  religiously  ever  since.  The 
epithet  of  traitor  in  "foro  conscientiae"  would  more  than 
neutralize  such  rewards  in  a  Southern  man  for  consenting  to 
don  a  blue  coat  at  such  a  time.  There  no  like  imputation  at 
taching  to  those  of  Northern  birth  for  preferring-  that  color 
to  the  less  pretentious  gray. 

Daughters  of  the  Confederacy,  I  rejoice  exceedingly  that 
the  Chapter  of  my  home  town  bears  the  name  and  emblazon 
of  a  much  loved  friend  and  classmate  of  my  early  manhood. 
J.  E.  B.  Stuart,  or  as  he  was  lovingly  dubbed  by  his  intimates 
and  associates,  "Old  Beauty/'  abbreviated  into  "Bute 
Stuart,"  was  a  man  of  opposities,  but  of  singularly  lovable 
character.  To  begin  with,  like  Jackson  he  was  essentially 
of  a  religious  cast  of  thought  in  those  early  days,  though  not 
pushing  it  to  the  ascetic  or  monastic  extreme  of  the  other,  he 
was  a  devout  member  of  the  Episcopal  church,  and  on  one  of 
our  walks  remarked  in  effect,  that  he  considered  "The 
Litany"  the  most  beautiful  and  comprehensive  invocation  that 
could  be  devised,  both  for  and  against;  in  which  opinion,  I 
have  since  learned  to  concur.  And  yet,  withal,  he  was  so  full 
of  exuberance  of  spirits  that  he  would  fain  at  times  break 
forth  into  a  loud  whoop,  a  lively  song,  or  a  mad  dash  on  old 
Flirtation  walk.  Such  he  was,  half  boy  and  half  man,  during 
the  three  years  of  our  acquaintance  at  the  academy.  In  his 
last  or  graduating  year,  I  had  drifted  off  to  the  University 
of  Virginia,  in  search  of  Law  and  Political  Economy.  But 
when  my  old  friends  on  the  Hudson  were  about  to  shake  off 
the  Cadet  chrysalis  for  the  butterfly  toggery  of  the  Lieuten- 
ant, impulse  got  the  better,  and  I  rushed  on  to  the  old  tenting 
ground  to  give  the  glorious  heroes  (soon  to  be)  a  parting 
hand-shake.  Though  I  say  it  myself,  never  did  returning 
brother  receive  more  cordial  greeting.  As  soon  as  parade 
was  over,  invitations  poured  in  by  word  of  mouth  from  al- 
most every  one  of  the  dear  old  fellows,  to  share  their  room 
for  the  night.  But  "Old  Bute"  took  possession  of  me,  march- 
ed me  off  to  his  room,  and  then  down  to  the  "mess  hall,"  and 
then  back  again.    Perhaps  old  J.  E.  B.  and  Rogers,  his  room- 

[311] 


APPENDIX. 


mate,  devoted  the  evening  to  their  final  examination,  then 
only  a  week  off,  but  I  don't  think  they  did.  Perhaps  "Old 
Bute"  intended  that  blanket  which  he  was  spreading  on  the 
floor  for  me  instead  of  somebody  else ;  but  I  don't  think  he 
did,  as  he  took  it  himself,  leaving  me  no  other  alternative  but 
to  take  his  bed.  Perhaps  we  did  as  school  girls  proverbially 
do,  when  they  meet  after  a  whole  year  of  separation,  and  non 
interchange  of  confidences,  went  to  bed  and  went  to  sleep, 
but  such  is  not  my  recollection.  True,  we  retired  at  "taps," 
but  I  will  not  vouch  that  "reveille"  found  us  asleep.  Daugh- 
ters of  the  J.  E.  B.  S.  Chapter,  what  is  your  verdict  based 
on  personal  experience  and  presumptive  inference  ? 

He  next  appears  in  the  public  eye  as  the  capturer  of  that 
incarnate  fiend  Brown,  at  Harper's  Ferry,  under  orders  of 
General  Lee,  and  who  was  a  little  later  on  most  justly  hung, 
whilst  his  cowardly,  skulking  adherents,  devoid  of  every  ves- 
tige of  his  one  solitary  redeeming  trait,  have  been  ever  since 
trying  to  raise  to  the  plane  of  apotheosis  or  sainthood.  More 
deserving  the  halter  they. 

Before  he  was  thirty,  (to  be  precise  27),  we  see  him  the 
virtual  Chief  of  Cavalry  on  the  Confederate  army  in  the  east, 
and  the  acknowledged  "Rupert"  of  that  branch  of  the  service. 
If  claim  of  kinship  there  was  between  him  and  the  Royal, 
ill  starred,  and  not  over  creditable  house  of  Scotland,  as  he 
ever  maintained  there  was,  let  us  trust  that  it  was  in  direct 
descent  from  that  heroic  Bohemian,  on  the  maternal  side, 
(Elizabeth,  Queen  of  Bohemia,)  and  not  through  any  son 
of  Scotia  who  later  on  became  the  imported  crown  wearers 
of  the  sister  kingdom.  Be  they  cousins  or  not,  these  two  had 
certain  strong  traits  of  character  in  common.  Recklessly 
brave,  jovial,  light-hearted,  debonnaire  they  were  with  kin- 
dred capacity  for  cavalry  command.  Each  was  the  world's 
recognized  ideal  of  the  born  trooper.  He  was  to  us  one  of 
the  stars  of  first  magnitude  in  the  resplendent  galaxy,  which 
they  composed.  Observe  a  few  of  the  booted  and  spurred 
champions  of  that  day :  Forrest,  Hampton,  Yan  Dorn,  Rosser, 
Wheeler,  Morgan,  Bob  Ransom,  John  Wharton,  the  two  Fitz- 
hugh  Lees,  Ashby  and  others.  Of  course  it  is  not  proposed  to 
place  him  or  any  other,  in  that,  or  any  antecedent  war,  on 

[312] 


APPENDIX. 


the  same  plane  of  equality  with  the  first  named,  Bedford 
Forrest,  grandest  of  horsemen. 

By  common  consent  of  friend  and  foeman  alike,  this  phe- 
nomenal man  proved  himself  a  natural  born  leader  of  men, 
especially  horsemen,  and  usually  under  most  untoward  condi- 
tions and  circumstances,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the 
struggle,  fighting  odds  that  none  other  fought,  and  without 
fail  to  successful  finish,  when  in  chief  command,  and  with  a 
roster  of  prisoners  to  his  credit  that  none  other  could  claim 
except  "the  great  captain,  himself,"  even  ''Old  Marse 
Robert."  There  he  stands,  our  matchless  "'"king  of  the  saddle, 
the  saber  and  spur."  God  shrive  and  annoynte  his  glorious 
soul  for  sending  more  than  his  due  proportion  before  the 
judgment  seat  up  yonder.  I  repeat  that,  to  my  thinking, 
since  the  birth  of  his  brother  stable  boy,  Joachim  Murat,  later 
on  Marshal  of  France,  and  King  of  Xaples,  and  for  a  thou- 
sand years  anterior  the  world  has  not  seen  his  prototype  for 
the  work  that  he  was  called  on  to  discharge.  Martinets  may 
say  in  depreciation,  that  he  was  ill  acquaint  with  "the 
school  of  the  soldier,"  to  which  may  be  added,  or  any  other ; 
but  where  was  the  Master  of  Schools  or  of  Arts  that  ever 
approached  him  in  outreach  of  accomplishment  ? 

Ladies,  if  some  may  urge,  in  derogation  of  these  homely 
remarks,  that  I  have  been  over-lavish  in  superlatives,  be  mine 
the  reply,  that  it  was  an  epoch  of  superlatives,  of  high  and 
low  degree,  in  actors,  in  plot,  in  development,  and  events.  My 
effort  has  been  to  confine  remark  to  the  first  or  higher  class, 
where  praise  was  legitimately  due,  and  to  ignore  the  other 
and  leave  it  to  other  and  more  willing  hand  or  tongue  to 
discuss. 

Daughters  of  the  Confederacy,  of  the  J.  E.  B.  Stuart  Chap- 
ter, (worthy  sponsorial  namesake  to  worthy  Daughters),  you 
have  sincerest  appreciation  for  the  honor  done  me. 

I  will  close  by  requesting  my  friend,  Mrs.  Dr.  MacBae,  to 
give  us  in  her  own  inimitable  style  that  glorious  camp  song, 
which,  owing  to  salt  in  the  eye  and  frog  in  the  throat,  I  have 
never  been  able  to  read  aloud  myself. 

"It  was  Stonewall  Jackson's  way." 


[313 


APPENDIX. 

Gettysburg  Reminiscent — After  a  Hiatus  of  Forty  Years. 

Fayetteville,  July  15,  1903. 

(Begun  as  indicated  by  date:  delayed  by  illness.) 

Me.  Editor: — I  am  just  back  from  Gettysburg,  where  I 
went  a  week  or  two  ago  to  try  and  locate  to  my  own  satisfac- 
tion the  lines  of  battle  of  the  opposing  armies,  on  the  momen- 
tous first  day's  fight.  To  carry  out  this  purpose,  I  put  in  an 
appearance  there  two  days  in  advance  of  the  big  day.  Most 
fortunate  was  the  combination  of  time  and  circumstance,  as 
it  enabled  me  to  take  in  the  field  under  as  good  pilotage  as 
ever  falls  to  the  lot  of  pilgrim  to  that  historic  shrine,  and  no 
where  is  such  more  needed.  To  make  the  tour,  relying  only 
on  the  vague  recollection  of  a  participant  of  forty  years  ante- 
rior, or  the  usual  parrotty  verbiage  of  a  professional  guide,  is 
like  threading  the  labarynth  without  the  ball  of  twine. 

On  the  train  from  Baltimore,  I  met  my  old  classmate, 
General  O.  O.  Howard,  whom  I  had  seen  but  once  since  we 
were  at  the  military  academy  together,  half  a  century  by- 
gone. Notwithstanding  the  tremendous  issue  that  had  been 
involved  in  the  meantime,  and  which  shook  the  continent 
from  centre  to  circumference,  in  which  we  saw  duty  from 
opposing  standpoints  and  took  sides  accordingly,  he  to  rise 
to  high  fame  and  distinction,  whilst  I  came  out  where  I  went 
in,  owing  to  two  years  imprisonment,  he  met  me  with  all  the 
cordiality,  not  to  say  impressement  of  uninterrupted  friend- 
ship. It  was  illustration  of  an  oft  asserted  iteration,  that  the 
spirit  of  class  Camaraderie  (as  the  French  term  it)  was 
stronger  in  that  school  than  in  any  other  institution  organized 
of  man  before  or  since.  The  bond  of  the  Crusade  was  strong, 
and  so  is  that  of  societies  of  cabalistic  Greek  letter  in  modern 
college,  but  neither  reached  the  unstudied  altitude  of  the 
standard  there  prevailing.  Upon  that  highland  Hudson 
cliff",  nearly  a  hundred  years  anterior  consecrated  to  Freedom, 
and  the  rights  of  man,  were  wont  annually  to  assemble  about 
one  hundred  young  men,  of  all  recognized  rank,  station  and 
condition  of  life  from  every  quarter,  knowing  nothing  of 
each  other,  or  of  each  other's  antecedents,  and  nothing  caring, 

[314J 


APPENDIX. 

simply  content  by  touch  and  contact  to  let  each  one  show  what 
was  in  him.  If  the  man,  he  was  the  recognized  man,  thence- 
forth until  he  proved  himself  less  than  man.  If  a  dog  of 
currish  instincts,  he  went  to  the  dogs,  and  there  he  staid. 
Was  ever  aristocracy  of  grander  type  or  conception! 

There  was  the  son  of  the  mechanic,  the  farmer,  the  mil- 
lionaire, starting  the  race  together,  with  no  adventitious  ad- 
vantage or  serious  set-back,  by  reason  of  paternity  or  pedi- 
gree. Such  was  the  "West  Point"  of  half  a  century  bygone, 
whera  truth,  fidelity  to  plight,  good  fellowship,  good  horse- 
manship, good  markmanship  were  taught  and  inculcated  to  a 
degree  unknown  to  any  school  in  Scythia  of  old  or  any  school 
subsequent  in  or  out  of  Scythia.  Pardon  the  digression.  We 
lived  together  in  Arcadian  simplicity  and  brotherly  love,  until 
the  edict  went  forth,  up  and  cut  each  others'  throats.  In  ob- 
dience  to  unquestioning  mandate  it  was  done.  The  query 
came,  how  many  of  our  fellows  were  killed  on  your  side, 
Green  ?  Nine  out  of  twelve  and  all  general  officers,  was  the 
reply ;  and  how  was  it  on  your's,  Howard  ?  Seven  out  of 
seventeen,  was  the  answer.  Sixteen  out  of  an  aggregate  of 
twenty-nine  surviving  in  1861  was  a  no  mean  showing  in  a 
class  that  laid  aside  the  academic  shackles  less  than  ten  years 
anterior  thereto.  Noble  fellows,  and  duty's  liegemen  they 
were,  one  and  all.  Rather  a  concession  that,  coming  from 
one  heretofore  regarded  as  something  of  tacit  mourner  over 
historic  results.  How  was  it  done  ?  I  do  not  know  unless, 
perhaps,  I  was  near  recaptured,  this  time  by  kindness  and 
courtesy  on  the  revisit  to  that  field.  Certain  it  is,  that  my 
feelings  were  not  wounded  by  harsh  or  jarring  criticism,  or 
the  flippant,  senseless  use  of  terms,  Rebel  and  Rebellion,  ob- 
noxious "to  ears  polite,"  when  falling  from  the  tongues  of 
those  who  judiciously  espoused  the  vanning  side,  but  disgust- 
ing and  doubly  distilled  when  labialized  by  those  of  Southern 
birth.  It  was  only  used  once  by  a  Northern  man  in  my  pres- 
ence, and  then  in  a  spirit  of  badinage:  "Sit  down  here,  you 
bloody  old  Reb,  and  let  me  see  if  you  are  the  genuine  article 
or  only  the  counterfeit  presentment."  Such  was  the  opening 
remark  of  Major-General  Alex.  S.  Webb,  who  held  the  bloody 
angle  against  the  bloodiest  of  all  charges,  fighting  with  mus- 

[315] 


APPENDIX. 


ket  in  hand  until  it  was  shattered  by  one  of  Alexander's  shells, 
and  with  the  fragments  was  Alexander  Webb's  crownpiece. 
"Say,  Sep,  old  boy,  he  continued,  have  you  still  got  that  shrug 
of  the  left  shoulder  ?"  The  title  "Sep"  was  one  universally 
carried  by  all  September  matriculates.  Howard  and  I  were 
and  are  both  "Seps,"  having  entered  on  the  same  day,  Sep- 
tember 1st,  1850.  On  the  night  of  July  1,  1903,  on  the  stoop 
of  that  Gettysburg  hotel,  there  were  three  of  us  better  entitled 
to  carry  the  soubriquet,  three  ''Septuagenarians,"  as  I  opine. 
But  strictly  this  could  not  apply  to  Webb,  as  he  entered  in 
June  the  year  succeeding,  and  was  almost  the  baby  of  his 
class.  Howard  was  the  senior,  being,  I  believe,  a  graduate 
of  Dartmouth,  and  the  close  contestant  of  Custis  Lee  for  first 
honor  at  West  Point.  It  was  his  good  fortune  to  be  the  first 
of  his  grade  to  arrive  at  that  little  village  at  critical  juncture, 
when  armies  were  concentrating  from  all  points.  He  found 
Reynolds  in  command,  who  was  shortly  afterwards  killed, 
thus  devolving  the  chief  command  on  himself  during  the  first 
day's  fight,  until  Slocum  came  up  about  sundown,  by  whom 
he  was  by  rank  superseded.  Judging  from  a  dispassionate 
standpoint  at  this  late  day,  the  impartial  critic  must  ascribe 
to  Howard's  temporary  command  on  that  momentous  first 
day,  especially  in  grasping  the  importance  of  Cemetery  Hill 
and  Little  Round-top,  and  holding  possession  of  that  pivotal 
point  until  adequate  reinforcements  came  up,  the  only  credit 
that  Meade  can  legitimately  claim,  and  the  highest  ascribed 
to  him  by  competent  critics  of  his  own  side,  of  having  made 
the  three  days'  fight  a  drawn  battle.  It  was  under  his  guid- 
ance and  description  that  I  enjoyed  the  exceptional  privilege 
of  passing  my  two  days  in  review,  forty  years  afterwards,  with 
mingled  feelings  of  admiration  for  heroism,  never  surpassed, 
if  ever  equalled  by  contending  sides  on  any  field  before,  not  to 
speak  of  a  twinge  of  irrepressible  sadness  on  account  of  those 
saddest  words  ever  uttered  by  tongue  or  pen:  "the  might  have 
been."  Let  others  sing  peans  to  victory,  necessitating  the 
overthrow  of  their  life  cherished  cause  and  convictions.  I 
for  one  have  not  yet  attained  to  that  sublime  stage  of  philo- 
sophic consolation,  or,  to  put  it  stronger,  exultation.     Does 


[316] 


APPENDIX. 

latter  day  patriotism  enjoin,  or  hypocrisy  sanction,  such  con- 
cession ? 

Just  after  supper  I  was  waited  on  by  the  committee  of  ar- 
rangements, with  invitation  from  General  Howard  to  ride 
with  him  and  General  Huidekoper,  the  two  orators  of  the 
second  day  (Thursday)  during  my  sojourn.  It  is  needless 
to  add,  the  courtesy  was  thankfully  accepted,  the  committee 
promising  to  give  "Guilford,"  my  body  servant,  who  was 
captured  with  me  in  the  ordnance  and  wounded  train  on  the 
retreat,  and  was  in  my  service  anterior  and  has  been  ever 
since,  a  seat  with  the  driver.  The  two  Generals  had  each 
given  a  good  right  arm  as  contribution  to  their  cause  and  con- 
victions, and  I  was  rather  shaky  in  the  "underpinnings,"  ow- 
ing to  a  return  ten-pound  compliment,  which  makes  pedes- 
trianism  inconvenient  in  the  rheumaticky  stages  of  existence, 
but  which  is  now  degraded  to  the  base  use  of  holding1  mv 
library  door  open,  somewhat  suggestive  that  of: 

"  Imperious  Oesar,  dead,  and  turned  to  clay, 
Might  stop  a  hole  to  keep  the  wind  away." 

The  first  place  we  went  to,  was  what  might  be  termed 
"Howard's  eyrie,"  which,  with  the  aid  of  some  half  dozen 
flights  of  steep  stairs  to  reach  it,  gives  perhaps  the  best  view 
of  the  town  and  surrounding  country  that  can  be  had.  To 
scale  those  dizzy  heights  as  he  had  done  forty  years  and  a 
day,  preceding,  for  the  sinister  purpose  of  watching  our  com- 
ing in,  and  systematic  spreadouts,  was  what  I  was  called 
upon  to  do  last  Wednesday  morning  a  week  ago.  There  was 
no  excuse,  holdback  or  other  get  out,  from  that  invitation, 
for  it  was  a  special  treat  given  in  my  honor,  and  had  I  not 
besides  just  made  a  trip  of  five  hundred  miles  to  take  (in) 
that  pretty  little  borough  ?  And  yet  candor  compels  the  ad- 
mission, that  I  would  have  vastly  preferred  being  one  of  Pen- 
der's (another  classmate)  immortals,  making  that  ascent,  a 
part  of  the  time  under  glorious  old  Isaac  Trimble,  to  trusting 
a  pair  of  three-score  and  ten  legs  up  that  fearful  flight.  Was 
amply  compensated,  however,  after  getting  down,  for  apart 
from  the  historic  information  imparted  by  my  distinguished 
guide,  it  was  one  of  the  finest  panoramic  views  that  I  have 
ever  seen. 

[317] 


APPENDIX. 


On  resuming  the  drive,  General  Howard  remarked,  now, 
gentlemen,  we  will  first  go  to  where  Daniel's  brigade,  the  one 
to  which  Green  was  attached,  first  put  in  an  appearance  on 
their  forced  march  from  Heidlersburg  that  morning,  and 
where  it  suffered  such  tremendous  loss  at  "the  Deep  Cut,"  a 
little  later  on.  Captain  Zeigler,  will  you  please  direct  the 
driver  ?  This  was  addressed  to  the  fourth  party  of  our  make- 
up, a  true  gentleman,  as  I  take  him  to  be,  a  zealous  soldier 
on  the  side  which  he  deemed  to  be  right,  and  perhaps,  from 
close  study  and  systematic  research,  one  of  the  most  reliable 
local  guides  there  to  be  found.  We  were  soon  spinning  along 
to  that  point  over  the  finest  road  that  I  have  ever  seen,  find- 
ing out  as  progress  was  made  that  all  others  in  that  vicinage 
were  of  kindred  kind.  The  United  States  is  of  a  surety  the 
king  of  road-builders  in  and  about  national  graveyards,  since 
old  Rome  gave  up  the  business  on  a  grander  scale.  Apropos, 
I  had  an  old  kinsman,  once  upon  a  time,  who  was  not  un- 
known in  his  own  State,  or  in  all  the  States  surrounding. 
VVfien  the  bill  for  an  appropriation  to  what  was  known  as 
"The  National  Road,"  running  from  Cumberland  to  Terre 
Haute,  was  passed  or  pending,  with  every  assurance  of  pas- 
sage, Mr.  Macon  arose  from  his  seat  in  the  Senate,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  preach  "The  Funeral  of  the  Constitution."  His 
text  being,  that  road  building  was  extra  constitutional,  and 
that  with  this  little  shovel  full  of  dirt  for  beginning  on  that, 
line,  the  road  was  open  to  endless  extension.  Some  there  be 
still  living  who  still  think  that  that  old  "Strict-Construction- 
ist"  was  not  such  an  egregious  ass  as  the  new  school  of  India- 
rubber  expansionists  would  have  the  world  believe. 

During  the  drive,  numerous  statues  and  mementoes  to  de- 
parted valor  were  passed  in  transient  review ;  some  good, 
others  indifferent,  but  mostly  belonging  to  neither  category, 
but  all  remindful,  in  reversal,  of  the  old  Roman  "lex  non 
sc?'ipta" :  "Build  no  monuments  to  commemorate  civil  strife, 
or  to  remind  posterity  of  bloody  intestine  collision."  A  wise 
as  well  as  a  valorous  race  was  the  outcrop  of  the  Tiber  she- 
wolf.  Let  not  the  vanquished  in  later  "internals"  make  wry 
face  or  call  in  question  the  wisdom  of  reversal  of  that  effete 
and  antiquated  aphorism  or  dictum. 

f3i8] 


APPENDIX. 

Crossing  a  little  bridge,  the  carriage  was  stopped  and  the 
inquiry  made:  "Sep,  do  you  recognize  the  locality?"  Of 
course  I  did,  for  it  was  ''Deep-Cut,"  where  Daniel's  brigade 
sustained  heavier  loss  in  twenty  minutes  than  did  any  other 
brigade  during  the  day;  adding,  "there's  another  spot  that  I 
recall,  that  grove  on  the  little  eminence  to  our  left,  for  it  was 
there,  while  the  command  was  undergoing  desultory  shelling 
in  a  prone  or  recumbent  position,  previous  to  the  order  to 
advance,  that  a  chance  missile  exploded  almost  under  the 
nose  of  the  Second  Battalion,  and  just  behind  where  General 
Daniel  and  I  were  holding  our  horses.  It  was,  perhaps,  the 
most  disastrous  single  shot  fired  during  the  war.  Thirteen 
men  were  killed  or  wounded  by  that  detonation."  To  that 
came  reply,  that  won't  do,  old  fellow,  for  in  such  a  battle 
(naming  it)  you  all  sent  us  it's  companion  piece,  which 
killed  and  disabled  twenty -nine  of  ours.  "By  the  way,  you 
recollect  my  brigadier,  June  Daniel,  whom  many  think  was 
hardly  second  to  any  one  that  his  State  has  sent  forth  ?" 
"Yes,  was  the  reply,  I  recall  him,  but  had  lost  sight  of 
identity." 

Here,  Sep.,  is  where  our  "mutual  friend,  General  Huide- 
koper,"  then  Colonel  of  the  150th  Pennsylvania,  was 
wounded,  although  winning  promotion  thereby.  "There  is 
where  Archer's  little  brigade,  having  got  beyond  support  and 
too  far  in  our  domain,  was  taken  in.  Off  to  our  left  there  is 
where  Gordon  entered  the  field."  And  so  in  desultory  talk 
pertinent  to  the  occasion,  we  drove  on  towards  the  National 
Cemetery,  but  did  not  then  enter.  Howard  has,  as  all  true 
soldiers  and  the  world  at  large  has,  a  most  exalted  opinion  of 
General  Lee,  both  as  a  soldier  and  a  man,  although  hardly 
disposed  to  concede  with  Wolseley,  Henderson  and  other 
world  recognized  military  critics  of  recent  date,  that  his  name 
is  entitled  to  a  place  on  the  roster  of  the  five  greatest  captains 
of  authentic  history.  "Perhaps,"  he  continued,  "you  are 
not  aware  of  the  reason  why  we  did  not  intercept  your  retreat 
between  this  and  the  Potomac,  as  all  judges  say  ought  to 
have  been  done,  and  thus  and  then  end  the  war." 

Why  wasn't  it  done?     Well,  here's  the  reason:  General 

had  the  ear  and  confidence  of  Meade  to  a  degree  that 

[319] 


APPENDIX. 

none  other  had.     He  also  had  a  blind  admiration  and  confi- 
dence in  Lee,  as  man  and  soldier,  not  surpassed  by  any  in  his 
great  army.     When  the  question  of  pursuit  was  under  dis- 
cussion during  the  night  of  the  third  day,  and  we  were  almost 
a  unit  in  favor  of  it,  with  eye  to  interception  before  the  river 
could  be  reached,  the  commander,  of  course,  being  noncom- 
mittal  until   a  full   expression  was   reached,   then   General 
.......   interposed:    "Do  I  understand  you  to  say,  General 

Meade,  that  you  have  reliable  information  that  General  Lee 
has  reported  to  his  government,  that  whilst  his  loss  has  been 
fearful  he  is  still  in  condition  to  repulse  assault,  come  from 
what  quarter  it  may  \  Then,  my  counsel  is,  let  him  severely 
alone,  for  I  know  the  man,  and  know  that  he  would  not  pre- 
varicate even  at  this  critical  juncture  to  save  his  life,  or  the 
cause  of  his  espousal,  which  he  values  far  more  highly." 
The  point  was  carried,  and  we  didn't  try  to  cut  off  the  re- 
treat. Was  ever  higher  compliment  paid  to  the  integrity  of 
man,  by  either  friend  or  f oeman  ? 

On  reaching  the  most  observant  or  observable  point  on 
Cemetery  Hill,  which  proved  to  be  a  veritable  cemetery  to  the 
Confederates  and  their  cause  in  the  outcome  of  the  most 
heroic  onslaught  in  history,  assumptively  claimed  by  one 
State  as  a  close  monopoly,  to  the  exclusion  or  ignoring  of 
another  that  kept  step  on  that  occasion,  or  to  be  entirely  accu- 
rate, showed  pace  to  all  others,  we  alighted  to  have  mapped 
out  the  historic  or  the  possibilic.  That  point  over  yonder 
(designating  it)  is  where  General  Lee  stood  during  the  as- 
sault. There  is  where  Sickles  was  in  line  when  ordered  to 
fall  back,  which  order  he  deferred  obeying  until  he  could 
communicate  with  Meade.  That  big  iron  book  is  the  ex- 
treme point  that  your  advance  reached — "Little  Round  Top" 
— which  was  confessedly  the  key  to  the  situation;  that  little 
hillock  to  the  left,  which  we  will  put  off  attacking  until  after 
dinner,  or  until  tomorrow,  as  General  H.  and  I  have  func- 
tions to  discharge  this  afternoon  in  connection  with  an  un- 
veiling. On  the  way  back  to  town  remark  was  made  on  the 
large  iron  tablets,  which  denote  the  positions  held  by  different 
Confederate  commands  at  various  stages.  As  indicators  of 
position,  I  expressed  my  preference  for  these  to  the  legion  of 

[320] 


APPENDIX. 

bronze  warriors  who  stood  mute  and  unresponsive  sentinels 
on  every  hand,  and  Howard  said,  so  did  he. 

These  are  apparently  about  six  or  eight  feet  square,  with 
raised  letters  in  same  metal,  giving  name  of  brigade  and 
regimental  conformation  of  it  at  particular  juncture.  For 
the  idea  and  other  important  data,  from  the  Southern  stand- 
point Major  W.  M.  Hobbins,  of  our  State,  and  the  Southern 
representative  on  the  Battlefield  Commission,  is  chiefly  en- 
titled to  the  credit. 

The  drive  back  to  dinner  was  along  "Confederate  Avenue," 
in  front  of  which  Colonel  Alexander  planted  his  guns,  uand 
most  judiciously  planted  they  were,"  added  Howard.  By 
the  way,  was  query,  how  many  guns  were  there  altogether  in 
that  terrific  duel,  the  like  of  which  the  world  has  never 
heard  ?  "To  the  best  of  my  calculation,"  was  the  reply, 
"you  all  had  225,  and  I  think  we  had  about  100  more." 
Lying  in  a  field  hospital,  a  mile  or  so  to  the  rear,  my  estimate 
was  that  there  were  five  or  six  reports  to  the  second.  That 
would  be  about  300  to  the  minute,  and  20,000  to  the  hour. 
Luckily  for  both  sides,  they  were  nothing  like  as  destructive 
as  the  two  we  were  telling  about.  After  dinner  we  drove  out 
to  the  unveiling  of  John  Burns'  statue,  one  of  the  best,  by  the 
way,  judged  artistically,  that  I  casually  took  in,  just  finished 
by  his  State  to  an  old  burgher  who  insisted  on  achieving  fame 
by  being  killed  the  first  day  "in  resisting  the  insolent  in- 
vader," according  to  one  of  the  speakers.  The  thought  ob- 
truded on  one  of  his  auditors  of  a  few  score  hecatombs  of 
patriot  heroes,  or  rather  hundreds,  who  died  across  the  river 
yonder  to  like  purpose  and  intent,  who  for  monumental  shaft 
or  storied  urn  had  to  be  content  with  a  soldier's  grave  for 
"resisting  the  insolent  invader."  Much  depends,  quoth  the 
lion  in  the  fable,  on  which  side  makes  the  statue. 

In  the  early  part  of  that  night,  whilst  sitting  in  front  of 
the  hotel,  General  Howard  came  up  and  said  that  Aleck 
Webb  was  up  at  his  hotel,  and  expressed  a  desire  to  see  me, 
but  was  unable  to  walk  so  far,  and  requested  that  I  would 
go  up  and  see  him.  The  preliminaries  of  our  interview  are 
already  inserted.  We  three  old  boys  continued  our  talk 
until  nearly  midnight  with  a  crowd  of  interested  listeners 
21  [ 321  ] 


APPENDIX. 


standing  around.  We  talked  of  old  friends  of  half  a  cen- 
tury bygone,  many  of  whom  had  made  historic  names  in  the 
interim.  Webb  and  Jimmy  Whistler,  who  has  since  died, 
the  recognized  artist  of  the  world,  were  recognized  contest- 
ants for  first  place  in  old  Bob  Weir's  class  of  drawing.  Nat- 
urally there  was  no  love  lost  between  them,  for  one  football 
was  too  small  for  two  Alexanders.  I  told  of  Jimmy's  room 
and  mine  being  opposite  and  that  when  he  was  not  immersed 
in  a  novel,  as  was  usually  the  case  when  not  cartooning  it, 
he  was  interrupting  the  serious  studies  of  Black  and  Green 
with  novelistic  recitals  of  the  Court  of  the  Romanoffs,  where 
his  boyhood  was  largely  spent,  his  father  being  one  of  the  pet 
American  engineers  of  that  day  whom  the  Czar  had  drawn 
around  him.  His  neighbors  thought  that  "the  little  Billee 
of  Trilby"  could  grind  out  romance  when  not  reading  it,  dear, 
fascinating  little  fellow  that  he  was.  "Make  him  tell  you, 
Webb,  two  pretty  little  stories  that  he  gave  me  to-day  about 
General  Lee  and  my  dear  old  friend,  Archy  Gracie,  which  I 
am  going  to  introduce  in  my  address  in  Texas  next  week." 
Of  course  insistence  led  to  violations  of  ride  laid  down  by 
him  of  Avon,  never  to  repeat.  Here  are  the  two  stories,  such 
as  they  are : 

One  day  in  ranks,  Gracie,  who  was  my  file  follower,  kept 
stepping  on  my  heels,  regardless  of  protest.  Finally,  my  pa- 
tience, like  Mr.  Acres'  courage  had  all  oozed  out,  not  at  the 
tips  of  my  fingers  but  the  tips  of  my  toes,  and  I  promised 
him  a  licking  as  soon  as  ranks  were  broken,  which  I  proceeded 
to  administer  con  amove.  In  the  midst  of  the  fun  old  P.  de 
Janon  had  to  rush  up  and  separate  us,  demanding  my  name, 
which  I  declined  to  give,  walking  off  to  the  barracks.  Gracie 
gave  his,  but,  like  the  true  gentleman  that  he  was,  refused  to 
give  mine,  remarking  in  emphatic  tone  that  he  was  no  in- 
former. Poor  fellow,  he  got  eight  extra  tours  of  guard  duty 
for  fighting  on  parade  ground,  whilst  I,  for  the  time,  went 
scot  free,  but  only  until  the  superintendent,  Col.  P.  E.  Lee, 
got  to  his  office  the  next  morning,  when  I  too  put  in  an  ap- 
pearance. "Colonel,"  was  the  opening  remark,  "Mr.  Gracie 
was  reported  for  fighting  on  the  parade  yesterday,  whilst  the 
man  he  was  fighting  goes  unreported."     "Well,  sir  ?"  "Colo- 

L322] 


APPENDIX. 

nel,  isn't  it  a  hard  case  that  after  getting  the  worst  of  the 
fight  he  should  have  to  undergo  all  of  the  penalty,  whilst  the 
other  fellow  escapes  altogether?"  "Well,  sir;  I  presume 
that  you  are  the  'other  fellow.'  "  "Yes,  sir,  I  am,  and  what- 
ever punishmeut  is  meted  out  to  Mr.  Gracie  I  insist  upon 
the  same  for  myself."  With  that  sweet,  benignant  smile  of 
his,  which,  once  seen,  could  nover  be  forgotten,  he  replied, 
"No,  sir,  neither  of  you  will  suffer  for  this  offence.  Try 
and  live  together  in  peace  aud  harmony  hereafter.''  And 
we  did,  thanks  to  the  judicious  peacemaker,  who  interviewed 
"the  other  fellow"  right  afterwards. 

"That's  a  good  one,  Sep,  but  old  Archy  was  not  to  blame 
for  making  free  with  your  heels,  for  you  know  he  was  knock- 
kneed.  Now  for  the  other."  "Well,  here  it  is,  by  well  au- 
thenticated report: 

"During  the  last  days  at  Petersburg,  when  General  Grant 
was  getting  to  be  over  affectionate  in  his  hug  on  'Marse 
Robert,'  news  reached  the  old  man  that  something  out  of 
routine  was  going  on  in  front  of  Grade's  line.  Thereupon 
he  mounted  'Traveller"  to  do  a  little  scouting  on  his  own 
hook.  Hitching  'Traveller'  en  'perdu,  for  fear  of  his  getting 
hurt,  with  field  glass  in  hand,  he  climbed  the  parapet  and 
began  his  observations  and  mental  notes,  whilst  the  suppli- 
cation arose  all  up  and  down  the  line:  'Come  down,  General 
Lee,  for  God  Almighty's  sake  come  down' ;  for  well  they 
knew  what  such  exposure  to  the  sharpshooters  beyond  im- 
plied. Deaf  to  their  importunities,  he  remained  there, 
poised,  with  glass  to  his  eye,  until  the  Brigadier  brought 
him  down.  Placing  himself  between  the  great  man  and  the 
sharpshooters,  he  stood  with  callous  mien  and  folded  arms  as 
the  order  came  quick  and  sharp,  'Get  down,  General  Gracie, 
get  down.'  To  which  came  the  saucy  reply,  'After  you, 
General  Lee.'  They  came  down  together.  Heroic  man,  he 
was  only  anticipating  his  hero-fate  a  few  brief  days  before 
it  came." 

As  Webb  was  engaged  on  State  work,  it  was  a  source  of 
regret  all  around  that  he  couldn't  be  with  us  in  our  drive  the 
next  day.  I  hear  that  he  is  now  at  the  head  of  the  largest 
educational  institution  in  New  York  City,  Columia  College 

[323] 


APPENDIX. 


alone  excepted.     His  father  was  the  great  journalist,  Gen.  J. 
Watson  Webb. 

Passing  over  muck  of  the  ground  traversed  yesterday,  but 
more  deliberately  for  more  careful  inspection,  we  came  at 
last  to  the  base  of  "Little  Round  Top,"  where,  alighting,  we 
proceed  upward  on  foot.  Just  below  and  to  the  right,  my 
attention  was  called  to  a  field  of  immense  boulders  extend- 
ing some  distance  each  way.  "Say,  Sep,  don't  you  think 
you  all  would  have  a  rough  trip  over  tbat  in  an  assault,  even 
if  there  bad  been  no  field  pieces  above?"  I  should  say  so. 
"Well,  we  had  to  get  a  battery  over  it  and  up  there  to  inter- 
cept your  expected  arrival,  a  battle  of  Cyclops,  truly.  Come 
up  here  to  the  summit,  and  see  the  spot  where  our  dear  old 
classmate,  Steve  Weed,  who  was  in  command,  was  done  for, 
and  where  Lieutenant  Hazlitt,  in  command  of  the  battery, 
was  struck  dead  whilst  stooping  over  him  to  receive  his  dying 
orders."  Such  was  the  tenor  of  conversation  and  observa- 
tion during  the  two  days'  drive.  The  most  interesting  and 
artistic  memento  was  the  beautiful  monument,  "To  Peace," 
near  the  entrance  to  the  cemetery,  wbich  is  the  crowning 
jewel  to  art  and  sentiment  in  that  dread  Necropolis.  Next 
to  it,  in  merit,  are  the  equestrian  statues  to  Hancock  and 
Meade,  and  the  standing  one  to  Warren,  at  least  so  they 
struck  me.  Such  is  a  brief  glimpse  of  brief  revisit  to  that 
greatest  of  all  battlefields.  It  is  not  intended  to  be  purely 
descriptive.     The  guide  books  do  that. 

Regretting  inability  to  stay  longer,  and  especially  to  hear 
Howard's  speech  that  afternoon,  which  reads  the  best  on  the 
other  side  that  I  have  ever  seen,  I  took  the  4  p.  m.  train  for 
borne,  where  I  arrived  two  days  later.  When  we  took  the 
wounded  and  ordnance  train  forty  years  ago,  it  took  about 
twenty-two  months  to  make  the  trip,  as  we  were  intercepted 
by  train  wreckers,  who  wouldn't  let  us  keep  on. 

Yours  truly,  Wharton  J.  Green. 


[324] 


APPENDIX. 


Memorial  Address  in  Honor  of  Mrs.  Davis,  Delivered  at  the 
Request  of  J.  E.  B.  Stuart  Chapter,  U.  D.  C,  by  Colonel 
Wharton  J.  Green. 

Ladies  of  the  U.  D.  C,  I  thank  you  for  being  permitted  to 
lay  my  little  sprig  of  immortelle  on  the  bier  of  this  trans- 
cendant  woman.  It  was  my  proud  privilege  to  have  known 
her,  and  her  immortal  husband,  through  more  than  half  a 
century,  and  to  have  loved  and  honored  them  both  through- 
out that  protracted  acquaintance.  A  better  idea  of  my  ap- 
preciation of  their  great  merit  can  best  be  given  by  a  brief 
recital  of  that  acquaintance,  illustrated  by  a  few  homely  inci- 
dents and  recollections,  supplemented  by  an  article  that  ap- 
peared yesterday  in  the  Observer,  and  which  is  now  given: 

Colonel  Green  and  the  Late  Mrs.  Davis. 

Fayetteville,  N.  C,  October  18,  1906. 
Editor  Observer,  Fayetteville,  N.  C. 

Dear  Sir: — I  send  you  herewith  my  contribution  to  the 
long  list  of  telegrams  of  condolence,  which  are  being  pub- 
lished on  the  occasion  of  Mrs.  Davis'  obsequies.  Sure  I  am 
that  none  that  has  gone  forward  is  more  genuine  in  heartfelt 
sympathy,  for  it  was  my  proud  privilege  to  know  and  love, 
and,  as  I  flatter  myself,  to  have  been  loved  by  her  and  her 
immortal  husband  for  over  half  a  century,  as  numerous  let- 
ters, mementoes  and  keepsakes  abundantly  attest;  and  I  hesi- 
tate not  to  say  that,  taken  together,  they  were  the  most  extra- 
ordinary married  couple,  intellectually  and  in  other  exalted 
attributes,  that  it  has  been  my  blessed  prerogative  to  have 
known.  Blessed  are  we  amongst  the  short-lived  nations  of 
the  earth,  or  the  long-lived  either,  to  have  had  our  national 
autonomy  illustrated  by  such  an  official  head  in  counubio. 
Aurelius,  worthiest  of  monarchs  that  the  world  has  known, 
was  mated  to  Faustina,  but  this  was  a  perfect  couple  in  all 
regards. 

Yours  sincerely,  W.  J.  Green. 


[325] 


APPENDIX. 

Fayetteville,  N.  C,  October  18,  1906. 
To  Mrs.  J.  Addison  Hayes,  Hotel  Majestic,  Neiv  York. 

Please  accept  our  heartfelt  sympathy,  part  of  which  is  re- 
tained for  ourselves,  for  she  was  my  honored  friend  through 
many  years,  as  was  your  glorious  father  through  half  a  cen- 
tury to  the  end.  Wharton  J.  Green. 

My  acquaintance  with  her  began  in  1853  or  1854,  whilst 
Mr.  Davis  was  Secretary  of  War  in  President  Pierce's  Cabi- 
net, and  has  continued  ever  since.  That  with  her  illustrious 
husband,  some  nine  or  ten  years  anterior,  during  his  first 
term  in  Congress,  whilst  I,  a  lad  in  my  teens,  was  left  under 
his  quasi  supervisory  control  at  the  same  boarding  house. 
During  his  continuance  in  that  cabinet,  confessedly  the 
strongest  that  the  government  has  ever  known,  as,  after  Mr. 
Calhoun,  he  was  the  ablest  head  of  the  war  office,  she  shone 
resplendent  as  the  head  and  front  of  cultured  and  refined 
Washington  society.  And  so  she  did  too  in  that  of  the  other 
capital,  as  first  lady  in  the  land,  when  I  took  tea  at  the  Con- 
federate White  House  in  the  closing  days  of  the  great  up- 
heaval, if  "Yupon"  could  be  called  Bohea,  or  Okra  seed 
Mocha.  But  be  it  what  it  might,  right  sure  I  am  that  Mad- 
ame de  Maintenon  never  decanted  her  costly  beverages  to  the 
Grande  Monarque  and  his  satiated  Court  with  more  superb 
grace  than  did  this  inborn  born  queen  her  homely  substitutes, 
born  of  necessity,  to  struggling  and  starving  patriots.  And 
so  it  was  at  beautiful  "Beauvoir,"  when  forced  to  dispense  a 
liberal  hospitality,  ill  suited  to  their  meagre  means.  In 
very  truth  she  would  have  shone  resplendent  in  any  circle 
and  under  all  circumstances.  Culture  and  refinement  was 
her  inborn  nature,  as  it  was  her  mated  lord's,  and  ever  appa- 
rent. Again,  I  repeat,  my  friends,  let  us  be  thankful  that 
we  had  such  representatives  as  these  and  kindred  spirits  to 
embellish  the  most  glorious  cause  that  ever  enlisted  the 
prowess  of  man,  even  if  lost.  And  what  shall  I  say  of  their 
peerless  daughter,  our  Winnie,  who  wears  the  proudest  title 
that  woman  ever  bore,  save  one  ?  Here  is  what  I  said  to  her 
mother  during  one  of  our  morning  drives  along  the  coast: 
"Madam,  you  ought  to  be  a  proud  woman,  with  such  a  hus- 

[326] 


APPENDIX. 

band  and  such  a  daughter.  I  wish  that  I  was  the  father  of  a 
son  of  suitable  age,  with  all  of  the  reputed  perfections  of 
Crichton  and  Bayard  conibirXe4,  that  I  might  express  him 
down  here  as  a  candidate  for  your  son-in-law."  She  was 
pleased  to  say  that  she  would  like  the  alliance. 

Shortly  after  the  close  of  the  war,  whilst  our  immortal 
Chieftain  was  undergoing  all  the  tortures  that  could  be  de- 
vised  by  that  brace  of  petty,  pompous  tyrants,  Stanton  and 
Miles,  in  a  damp,  dank,  loathsome  dungeon,  I  chanced  to  be 
at  the  St.  Charles  Hotel  in  New  Orleans  when  she  arrived 
and  took  rooms  for  herself  and  little  ones  at  the  St.  James 
Hotel.  The  term  brace,  which  imports  a  pair,  was  em- 
ployed. Respect  for  a  certain  high  office,  which  he  then 
filled  by  the  accidency  of  murder,  and  regard  for  a  noble 
State,  which  enjoyed  the  equivocal  honor  of  his  nativity,  de- 
ters completing  the  triumvirate  of  infamy  by  giving  his 
name,  but  who,  holding  the  restraining  power,  was  to  say  the 
least  acquiescent  and  permissory  to  the  brutality  of  the  others. 
It  was  at  this  juncture  that,  naturally  assuming  she  was 
wanting  for  the  comforts  of  life,  I  requested  her  nephew, 
General  Joe  Davis,  to  wait  on  her  at  once  and  place  my  purse 
unreservedly  at  her  disposal.  He  brought  courteous  reply, 
and  over  ample  thanks,  but  adding  that  she  hoped  that  with 
the  strictest  economy  she  trusted  to  be  able  to  weather  the 
storm,  but  continuing,  tell  the  dear  fellow  that,  if  at  any 
time  hereafter  I  lack  for  bread,  I'll  know  where  to  make  a 
call.     She  forgot  to  do  it. 


Speech  of  Hon.  Wharton  J.  Green,  of  North  Carolina,  in  the 
House  of  Representatives,  Monday,  April  21,  1884. 

The  House  having  under  consideration  the  motion  of  Mr.  Beach,  to 
suspend  the  rules  and  adopt  the  resolution,  submitted  by  the  Select 
Committee  on  the  Public  Health,  regarding  the  adulteration  of  food  and 
drugs — ■ 

Me.  Green  said: 

Mr.  Speaker:  It  is  a  political  axiom  that  the  obligations 
of  government  and  governed  are  correlative  or  reciprocal, 
protection  being  the  duty  of  the  first;  support  of  the  last. 

f  327  ] 


APPENDIX. 

Protection  is  the  end  and  aim  of  all  government,  be  it  patri- 
archal, monarchical,  aristocratic,  or  democratic;  be  it  abso- 
lute or  constitutional.  For  that  end  primarily  is  all  govern- 
ment devised.  Against  foreign  foe  and  domestic  force, 
against  invasion  from  without  and  mob  violence  within, 
against  open  assault  and  covert  design ;  to  that  extent  at  least 
will  all  concede  that  the  government  is  bound  to  the  governed. 
la  return  therefor  the  protected  class,  the  mass,  the  people, 
yield  obedience  and  support;  in  war  their  personal  prowress 
to  resist  aggression,  in  peace  and  war  the  requisite  percentage 
of  their  goods  and  chattels  or  yearly  accretions,  in  one  way 
or  another,  to  maintain  the  organism  so  established.  Admit 
the  predicate,  and  none  dare  gainsay  it,  and  the  question 
naturally  arises,  where  do  the  protective  functions  of  Govern- 
ment cease  ?  Are  these  exhausted  when  armed  invading  col- 
umns are  beaten  back,  or  mobs  dispersed,  or  murderers,  rav- 
ishers,  burglars,  house-burners,  and  the  like  caught  and  pun- 
ished ?  These  undoubtedly  are  the  most  palpable  and  glaring 
duties  of  the  agent  or  factor  known  as  the  Government.  The 
right  of  demand,  however,  ceases  not  here.  Immunity  from 
the  depredations  of  law-breakers  of  every  sort  and  designa- 
tion is  at  least  their  implied  right  by  terms  of  "original  com- 
pact." 

I  purpose  to  push  the  claim  advanced  to  its  legitimate  con- 
clusion and  to  arraign  the  counterfeiters  and  adulterators  of 
meat,  drink,  and  medicine  as  one  of  the  most  criminal  of  the 
criminal  classes,  and  hence  meet  and  fitting  one  for  the  eye  of 
the  law  and  the  heavy  hand  of  the  law.  If  the  proposition  is, 
as  I  maintain,  self-evident,  then  I  repeat  the  people  have  the 
right  to  demand  protection  against  their  nefarious  practices, 
covert,  cowardly,  and  false,  no  less  than  from  predatory 
bands  on  land  or  sea,  against  bandit  or  pirate. 

Does  not  well  authenticated  suspicion,  almost  tantamount 
to  proof,  if  circumstantial  evidence  is  ever  proof,  justify  the 
sweeping  allegation  which  will  follow  ?  If  not,  and  I  fail 
to  make  it  so  appear,  then  set  me  down  as  slanderer  and  the 
objects  of  my  anathemas  as  spotless  lambs  most  unjustly  and 
unrighteously  arraigned. 

Now  for  the  premise  of  what  I  propose  to  prove  under 

[328] 


APPENDIX. 

penalty  to  the  extent  of  which  it  is  here  susceptible  of  proof. 
If  concurrent  testimony  and  widespread  accusation  through 
the  public  prints  be  not  the  offspring  of  pure  diabolism;  if 
chemical  analysis  be  not  a  snare;  and  if  dire  effects  traceable 
to  sinister  causes  be  not  a  delusion,  I  charge  and  maintain 
that  the  whole  field  of  dietetics  and  medicinals,  of  articles 
that  we  daily  eat  and  drink  and  take  as  doctor's  stuff,  teems 
with  adulteration,  noxious  or  innoxious  as  the  case  may  be. 
but  hurtful  as  a  rule. 

Mr.  Speaker,  if  this  be  so,  it  surely  appertains  to  us  to  in- 
quire into  the  evil  and  remedy  to  devise.  If,  in  spite  of  uni- 
versal attaint,  it  be  not  so,  it  is  due  to  the  manufacturer,  com- 
pounder, and  consumer  alike  that  the  negative  be  authorita- 
tively established. 

The  unfortunate  whelp  that  has  the  cry  of  "mad  dog" 
raised  at  his  heels  might  as  well  be  dead ;  and  he  who  is  bit- 
ten by  such  a  one  had  better  be,  even  though  the  poor  cur  be 
innocent  of  the  charge.  Abstract  justice  would  enjoin  that 
hydrophobia  be  established  or  disproved  for  the  mutual  bene- 
fit of  dog  and  man  alike.  A  like  regard  for  justice  would 
enjoin  that  his  brother  cur  of  our  conformation  and  purveyor 
of  our  diet,  who  is  pointed  at  as  poisoner,  should  have  like 
opportunity  to  establish  innocence.  It  is  your  right,  Mr. 
Speaker,  and  mine,  as  his  alleged  victims,  that  he  be  required 
to  do  it. 

Yes,  sir ;  metaphor  aside,  if  cause  there  be  for  this  whole- 
sale arraignment,  and  cause  for  one  I  think  there  be,  it  is 
your  right  and  mine,  and  that  of  every  man  who  voted  for 
and  against  us,  to  have  the  thing  inquired  into.  If  the 
charge  be  established  against  manufacturer  or  compounder 
of  killing  off  innocent  people  by  thousands  and  tens  of 
thousands  by  slow  process  and  homeophathic  doses,  wherein 
has  he  the  advantage  over  his  brother  scoundrel,  who  prefers 
active  agencies  and  larger  measure  to  remove  some  hated 
rival  or  ambitious  foe,  as  did  the  Borgias  and  others  of  the 
vile  accursed  class,  through  the  medium  of  Belladonna,  01 
arsenic,  or  of  ratsbane  ? 

For  one,  I  hold  the  last  less  culpable.  They  killed  by 
units,  these  by  thousands.     Better,  a  thousand  times  better, 

[  329  ] 


APPENDIX. 

the  allopathic  dose  administered  bj  a  Madame  Brinvilliers, 
to  the  graduated  modicums  of  the  abominable  drugs  which 
enter  into  our  daily  food,  and  protract  the  life  in  misery  of 
the  victims  by  thousands,  as  said,  through  one  or  two  or 
twenty  years  as  may  be. 

We  will  probably  be  met  at  the  threshold  of  investigation 
by  the  hackneyed  cry  of  "sumptuary  laws."  Sir,  no  one 
holds  in  utter  detestation  laws  of  the  class  named  more  than 
I.  But  why,  I  demand,  should  those  against  slow  insidious 
poisoning  be  so  classed  more  than  the  others,  aimed  againstf 
the  deadly  drugs  when  give  for  sinister  and  specific  object? 

Yes,  sir;  I  go  further  and  maintain  that  it  is  within  our 
province  to  prevent  the  admixture  of  spurious,  base,  or  bad 
ingredients  in  our  daily  food,  and  have  it  palmed  off  upon 
an  unsuspecting  world  as  a.  better  article  even  if  harmless  in 
effect.  If  it  is  our  right,  then  when  poison  enters  it  follows, 
as  the  night  the  day,  it  is  our  duty.  Sir,  the  vile  practice 
of  adulteration  engendered  by  sordid  greed  of  gain  is,  I  re- 
peat, now  so  universal  and  widespread  that  it  is  the  merest 
chance,  be  your  grocer  who  he  may,  that  you  can  obtain  any 
genuine  edible  article,  if  diabolic  science  will  permit  it  to  be 
counterfeited  to  advantage.  Sugar,  flour,  sirups,  baking-pow- 
ders, pepper,  spices,  brandy,  whisky,  vinegar,  wines,  teas, 
pickles,  preserves,  ground  coffee,  canned  goods,  mustard, 
lard,  butter,  table  oil,  curry,  and  a  host  of  other  articles  of 
every-day  life  too  numerous  to  mention,  all  fall  to  a  consider- 
able extent  under  my  sweeping  accusation  and  desired  inter- 
dict. We  buy  them,  knowing  that  they  are  probably  spu- 
rious. 

But  what  alternative  have  we  except  to  restrict  ourselves  to 
old-fashioned  hog  and  hominy  of  our  own  raising,  or  imitate 
that  would-be  heroic  idiot,  Dr.  Tanner.  Surely,  Mr. 
Speaker,  there  must  be  some  adequate  remedy  for  this  crying 
evil,  this  monstrous  crime.  That  remedy,  I  repeat  it,  is  ours 
to  devise.  If  we  are  encountered  by  constitutional  objection, 
then  give  us  an  amendment  to  that  India-rubber  document 
that  will  compass  the  aim  designed.  The  Constitution  of 
the  land  ought  to  be  able  to  protect  the  physical  constitutions 
of  its  citizens  against  the  machinations  of  demons  disguised 

[330] 


APPENDIX. 

as  men.  State  enactments  are  utterly  inadequate  to  suppress 
the  evil.  We  have  laws,  and  stringent  ones  they  are,  impos- 
ing suitable  and  adequate  penalties  upon  counterfeiters  of 
the  coin  and  currency  of  the  country.  Are  there  any  against 
counterfeiting  articles  of  diet,  drink,  and  medicine  ?  If  so, 
sir,  -the  brazen  effrontery  with  which  they  are  disregarded 
proves  their  total  inadequacy.  In  Heaven's  name,  why  are 
not  the  two  at  least  of  parity  ? 

Can  any  hold  that  the  last  is  crime  of  minor  grade  ?  Who 
will  say  that  he  who  stamps  and  passes  off  little  bits  of  baser 
metal  than  the  standard  bullion  to  put  into  your  pockets  is 
guilty  of  greater  wrong  than  he  who  prepares  and  sells  you 
base  and  counterfeit  compounds,  not  to  say  deadly,  to  put 
into  your  stomach  %  Possibly  the  reason  for  imposing  penal- 
ties in  the  one  case  and  neglect  to  do  so  in  the  other  is  that 
our  ancestors  could  not  realize  that  human  cupidity  could 
prompt  such  depravity  as  trifling  with  the  health,  well-being', 
and  very  existence  of  myriads  of  their  fellow-men. 

Just  as  the  Romans  had  no  special  punishment  for  parri- 
cide. Just  as  our  old  English  progenitors  had  no  special  pen- 
alty for  that  most  cowardly  and  repulsive  of  all  known 
crimes,  the  taking  of  lifq  by  deadly  drugs,  until  in  a  very 
late  reign  (one  of  the  last  Henrys,  I  believe)  the  crime  was 
proven  and  special  penalty  thenceforth  imposed  to  "fit  that 
vile  Italian  crime  which  hath  lately  entered  into  these 
realms."  The  culprit  was  to  be  boiled  to  death  in  oil.  Meet 
punishment  that  and  fitting  for  all  the  vile,  accursed  class, 
whether  the  agency  employed  be  the  famous,  or,  rather,  in- 
famous, "Aqua  Tofana,"  or  "Elixir  of  St.  Nicholas,"  which 
could  be  gauged  to  do  its  hellish  work  in  a  day,  a  week,  a 
month,,  or  a  year,  or  the  slower  poisons  of  our  day,  which 
enter  into  our  daily  food  and  permits  its  millions  of  victims 
to  live  out  nearly  their  allotted  span,  but  with  impaired  con- 
stitutions, both  mental  and  physical,  for  years  before  their 
end. 

Mr.  Speaker,  were  the  adulterated  substance  sold  entirely 
harmless  but  of  inferior  merit  or  virtue  to  that  which  it  pur- 
ports to  be,  it  would  still  be  a  fraud,  and  should  as  such  be 
punished.      But  when  baleful  and  deadly  ingredients  enter 

[331] 


APPENDIX. 

into  the  composition,  capital  felony  should  be  its  status  in  the 
list  of  crimes,  and  the  oil  cauldron  the  bath  in  which  the  vile 
miscreant,  be  he  manufacturer,  manipulator,  or  expert, 
should  be  required  to  lave  his  sordid  soul. 

If  any  one  within  the  compass  of  my  voice  doubts  the  ex- 
tent and  enormity  of  the  evil  complained  of  let  him  go  to  any 
first-class  grocery  in  this  town,  Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  New 
York,  or  Boston,  and  attempt  to  make  out  a  bill  of  goods  with 
the  guarantee  of  purity  attached.  Though  he  stand  with 
golden  ducats  or  silver  dollars  in  his  hand  to  settle  upon  com- 
pliance, I  j)rophesy  that  the  bill  will  not  be  filled  without 
abatement  of  proviso.  If  these  middle-men,  or  rather  first 
purchasers,  honest  as  a  class  as  I  concede  them  to  be,  and  as 
a  class  bitterly  opposed  to  the  necessity  which  exists  of  sell- 
ing the  counterfeit  commodities,  will  not  sign  the  "bill  of 
health"  required,  is  it  not  prima  facie  evidence  that  their 
cargo  is  taint  and  not  entitled  to  pratique;  in  other  words, 
that  it  is  an  unwholesome  and  sickly  lot  ? 

Mr.  Speaker,  I  had  occasion  some  two  years  ago  to  lay  in 
a  supply  of  commissary  stores  for  those  in  my  employ,  and 
told  my  grocer  in  a  neighboring  city  I  desired  a  pure  article 
of  sirup.  His  reply  was,  "You  can  not  get  it  here,  nor  do  I 
believe  you  can  in  or  out  of  the  city;"  and  so  with  numbers 
of  other  articles.  When  the  item  of  sugar  on  my  list  was 
reached  he  was  equally  honest  and  candid.  "We  can  sell  you 
a  pure  article  of  sugar,"  quoth  he,  "provided  you  take  the 
granulated.  Nothing  else  will  we  guarantee."  "And  why 
the  granulated  ?"  The  reply  was  pert  and  to  the  point : 
"Because  refiners  and  doctorers  have  not  yet  been  able  to 
counterfeit  it  to  paying  profit." 

This,  Mr.  Speaker,  is  a  sample  of  the  coloquy  on  that  occa- 
sion. Did  the  vendor  fall  in  my  esteem  or  would  he  have 
done  so  in  yours  on  account  of  the  admissions  made?'  No, 
sir ;  his  candor  stamped  him  an  honest  man ;  but  it  placed 
the  brand  of  knave,  swindler,  and  scoundrel  on  him  from 
whom  he  purchased,  assuming  that  he  bought  at  the  fountain- 
head  or  of  him  who  made,  compounded,  or  prepared  the  nox- 
ious stuffs.  Probably  every  gentleman  on  this  floor  knows 
what  steatite  or  soapstone  is.     If  not,  I  will  state  that  it  is  a 

[332] 


APPENDIX. 

soft,  calcareous,  easily  cut  rock,  but  probably  surpassing  any 
other  in  weight  and  density.  Presumptively  therefore  not 
the  most  digestible  article  of  diet  known. 

True,  as  we  are  told,  it  is  eaten  by  the  natives  of  the  Sene- 
gal, the  Oronoco,  and  New  Caledonia.  But,  I  opine,  sir, 
that  it  is  under  the  spur  of  dire  necessity  and  not  from 
choice,  and  that  these  poor  creatures,  but  one  degree  above  the 
ape  or  the  Digger  Indian,  would  much  prefer  that  his  muf- 
fins, biscuits,  or  doughnuts  had  for  basis  rye,  wheat,  corn,  or 
buckwheat,  or  even  the  favorite  cereal  of  "Old  Caledonia," 
which,  according  to  old  Sam  Johnson,  "is  eaten  in  England 
by  horses  and  in  Scotland  by  men."  Now,  sir,  what  would 
be  your  inference,  if  told  by  the  proprietor  of  one  of  these 
saponaceous  quarries,  as  I  have  been,  that  he  finds  a  ready 
sale  for  all  the  "soapstone  flour"  that  he  can  grind  ?  And 
who  are  your  customers  ?  Chiefly  commercial  millers  and 
sugar  refiners. 

Mine,  sir,  was  that  the  information  tallied  with  what  I  had 
previously  seen  in  print,  that  the  vile  stuff  enters  largely  into 
our  tea,  coffee,  toddy,  sweetmeats,  and  daily  bread.  Sir,  it 
behooves  those  who  hear  to  ponder  well.  Steatite  may  be  an 
excellent  lining  for  stoves.  I  doubt  its  coequal  fitness  for 
stomachs.  "Hot  biscuit  for  breakfast,"  "light  bread  for  sup- 
per" was  wont  to  gladden  my  heart  in  younger  days,  for  in 
the  house  of  an  honored  uncle  who  raised  me  "corn  bread" 
as  a  rule  was  the  staple  staff  of  life. 

Think  you  that  biscuit  for  breakfast  or  light  bread  for 
supper  (Heaven  save  the  mark,  how  could  it  have  been  made 
light?)  would  have  been  as  palatable  as  ash-cake  or  johnny 
if  one  of  the  descendants  of  old  Job's  comforters  had  kindly 
volunteered  the  information  that  they  were  to  be  made  out 
of  nice  white  soapstone  flour  instead  of  the  glorious  golden 
grain  grown  on  the  broad  acres  around  me  ? 

Will  men,  grown-up  men,  lawmakers,  be  less  alive  to  their 
corporeal  well-being  and  that  of  those  who  made  them  such 
and  confidingly  intrusted  their  well-being  into  their  hands  ? 
In  licensing  this  monstrous  wrong,  as  we  permissively  do, 
wherein  have  we  the  advantage  of  the  toad  as  regards  the 
reasoning  faculty  ?     I   have   been   told   that  that   creature, 

[833] 


APPENDIX. 

esthetically,  intellectually,  and  as  a  mold  of  form  one  of  the 
very  lowest  of  the  low  order  of  batrachia,  will^eat  his  fill  of 
leaden  shot,  when  thrown  to  him  one  by  one,  until  by  excess 
of  artificial  weight  he  is  utterly  unable  to  move. 

"Miserable  creature !"  was  my  involuntary  exclamation, 
"how  does  he  manage  to  digest  them  ?"  "Oh,"  replied  my 
juvenile  informant,  "he  doesn't  disgust  'em  at  all  .  We  takes 
him  by  the  left  hind  leg  and  holds  him  up,  and  all  of  the 
shot  rims  out  of  his  mouth." 

Blessed  batrachian,  that  can  eat  even  lead  with  impunity, 
and  disgorge  the  overweight  through  the  co-operative  agency 
of  a  hoodlum,  a  scientist,  or  other  experimentalist. 

Miserable,  besotted  bipeds,  who  will  persist  in  breaking 
bread,  and  eating  it,  too,  knowing  full  well  that  it  is  of  the 
leaden  sort,  and  that  they  have  no  kind,  considerate  hoodlum 
to  relieve  them  by  the  left-hind-leg  process. 

In  the  late  war,  Mr.  Speaker,  the  men  who  wore  the  soap- 
stone-color  coat  did  bake  and  break  and  eat  the  bread  whereof 
I  speak,  a  simple  admixture  of  flour  and  water,  and  ofttimes 
not  half  cooked  at  that.  But,  thanks  to  short  rations,  long 
marches,  hard  work,  and  easy  conscience  they  managed  to 
worry  it  through,  and  would  have  done  it  in  my  opinion 
though  50  per  cent,  of  their  scant  handful  of  flour  had  been 
soapstone,  sawdust,  or  brick-dust  either. 

But,  sir,  this  should  not  embolden  us  to  hope  for  like  im- 
munity. The  digestive  organism  of  the  ostrich,  the  alligator, 
the  Confederate  soldier,  and  the  anaconda  is  an  exclusive 
prerogative,  a  close  monoply,  and  does  not  appertain  to  all 
the  sons  of  Adam  alike.  Give  us,  then,  a  little  more  starch 
and  less  steatite,  more  gluten  and  less  glucose  or  crude  glass. 

Our  New  England  friends,  Mr.  Speaker,  have  the  word 
"sharp,"  somewhat  analagous  to  our  Southern  one  of  "smart," 
to  qualify  the  possessor  of  "ways  that  are  dark"  and  means 
that  are  doubtful,  which,  though  not  exactly  beyond  the  pale 
of  the  law,  are  nevertheless  beyond  that  attaching  to  the 
standard  of  a  well-recognized  morality.  He  who  sells  you 
sanded  sugar,  glucose  sirup  for  the  genuine  article,  soapstone 
or  plaster-of-paris  flour,  cocoanut-shell  black  pepper,  or  red- 
lead  cayenne  is  doubtless  "sharp,"  "cute,"  "smart,"  and  is 

[334] 


APPENDIX. 

bound  to  turn  his  penny  (bonest  or  otherwise  is  immaterial  to 
him)  ;  but,  sir,  he  is  none  the  less  a  cold-blooded,  calculating- 
knave  and  scoundrel,  and  should  be  made  amenable  to  the 
law.  "Tell  me  not  of  the  patriotism  of  such,"  exclaimed  the 
impassioned  Burke,  in  speaking  of  a  far  more  honorable 
class,  "his  desk  is  his  altar,  his  ledger  is  his  Bible,  and  his 
gold  is  his  god." 

Mr.  Speaker,  under  the  operation  of  our  delectable  revenue 
laws,  as  at  present  enforced,  there  are  grievous  penalties 
attaching  to  illicit  distillation,  as  many  of  the  poor  moun- 
taineers in  my  poor  State  know  full  well  to  their  cost  JSTow, 
sir,  I  opine  that  if  the  restrictions  on  distillation,  including 
tax  on  the  legitimate  article  and  pains  and  penalties  on  the 
illicit  or  "moonshine,"  were  removed  altogether,  and  these 
makers  of  a  pure  article  of  whisky  and  brandy  left  as  free 
as  their  fathers  were,  in  that  regard,  and  the  same  punish- 
ments doubled  or  quadrupled  meted  out  to  the  compounders 
of  the  poisonous  stuffs  engendered  by  the  tricks  of  chemistry, 
the  cause  of  morality  and  the  sanitary  cause,  not  to  say  the 
cause  of  liberty  and  sobriety,  woidd  be  materially  subserved 
thereby. 

Let  me  give  you  an  instance  in  proof.  When  a  younger 
man  than  I  am  today  by  many  years  I  passed  some  weeks  in 
Bonnie  Scotland.  I  had  heard  before  getting  there  that  the 
breeehless  sons  of  the  Lothians  were  not  averse  to  a  wee  drop 
of  "rock  and  rye,"  and  not  overparticular  if  the  rock  was 
left  out,  and  faith,  Mr.  Speaker,  observations  convinced  me 
that  they  had  not  been  slandered.  Why,  sir,  one-half  of  the 
average  potations,  judging  from  what  I  saw,  and  assuming 
that  it  was  a  national  average,  would  in  this  country,  in  a 
single  year,  more  than  double  the  victims  of  drink  mania  and 
cram  to  repletion  our  inebriate  asylums.  And  yet  no  such 
dire  effect  was  visible  there ;  mania  a  potu,  like  spinal  menin- 
gitis, was  literally  unknown. 

Expressing  my  surprise  to  a  friend  in  Edinburgh  at  the 
marked  difference  in  capacity  of  absorption  between  the  den- 
izens of  the  two  countries,  I  asked  the  cause.  Sir,  I  was  not 
and  am  not  satisfied  with  the  explanation  he  vouchsafed.  It 
was,    as   recollected,   that  the  volume   of   pyroligneous   acid 

[335] 


APPENDIX. 


evolved  from  peat  smoke  bad  a  purifying  effect  upon  the 
liquid  distilled.  That  may  be  science,  but  it  is  not  sense. 
My  explanation  is  simply  pure  whisky.  The  Highlandmen 
of  Scotland  in  that  day,  like  the  highlandmen  of  North  Car- 
olina in  ours,  were  not  up  to  the  tricks  and  devices  of  devilish 
science.  They  made  an  honest  article  of  whisky,  drank  it, 
and  lived  out  their  allotted  span  a  brave,  hardy,  simple  race 
on  their  bleak  free  mountain-sides. 

Like  cause  would  produce  like  effect  in  our  own  midst 
]STow,  Mr.  Speaker,  coming  back  to  our  mutton,  compel  the 
nefarious  manufacturer  or  compounder  to  drink  his  own  vile 
decoctions  with  a  slight  additional  infusion  of  fusil  oil,  to  be 
administered  by  the  public  executioner,  and  bury  his  ac- 
cursed secret  with  him,  and,  mark  the  prediction,  delirium 
tremens  and  other  resulting  effects,  such  as  wife-beating  and 
kindred  brutality,  misery,  and  murder,  will  very  materially 
diminish  as  the  cmality  improves. 

What  is  true  of  distilled  spirits  is  none  the  less  so  of  beer 
and  other  malt  liquors,  wines,  and  cordials ;  for  as  enormous 
as  the  profits  are  in  both  cases,  they  are  not  sufficient  to  sat- 
isfy these  rapacious  ghouls.  The  beer-maker  is  as  little  con- 
tent with  those  resulting  from  accredited  hops  as  the  basis  as 
is  the  whisky  or  brandy  maker  with  him  from  honest  rye, 
corn,  wheat,  or  fruits.  It  is  said  that  the  highest  encomium 
that  an  Irishman  can  pay  his  poteen  when,  with  the  charac- 
teristic hospitality  of  his  race,  he  sets  it  before  his  guest,  is 
the  trite  remark :  "The  divil  a  penny  of  rivenue  has  it  paid 
the  Queen." 

But  he  who  clinks  canakins  with  honest  Pat  has  the  satis- 
faction of  feeling  that  while  Her  Majesty's  money-bags  may 
thereby  weigh  less  than  they  ought  nevertheless  the  devil  a 
drop  of  vile  chemicals  or  doctor's  stuff  has  entered  into  its 
composition.  So,  believing,  Mr.  Speaker,  if  I  were  snake-bit- 
ten in  blessed  St.  Patrick's  land  I  would  vastly  prefer  the 
only  recognized  antidote  on  such  occasions  (and  efficacious  I 
know  it  to  be  by  personal  experience  in  a  Robeson  County 
swamp)  to  be  of  the  unpaid-tax  quality  to  the  so-called  honest 
tax-paid  stuff  stretched  out  by  the  infusion  of  strychnine  and 
other  deadly   drugs.      Let  casuists   determine  which   is   the 

[336] 


APPENDIX. 

most  meretricious,  the  man  who  makes  the  first  or  the  govern- 
ment which  permits  the  last  to  be  made. 

It  is  safe  to  assume,  Mr.  Speaker,  that  were  the  question 
put  to  the  leading  medical  men  of  the  country  a  large  major- 
ity of  them  would  decide  that  the  alarming  increase  of  late 
years  in  nervous,  cerebral,  and  kidney  diseases  is  directly 
traceable  to  the  cause  assigned,  namely,  adulterated  drinks  of 
all  kinds,  including  vinous,  malt  and  distilled.  Is  not  insan- 
ity fearfully  on  the  increase,  as  evidenced  by  the  overcrowded 
bedlams  of  the  land  and  the  mania  for  self-destruction  ?  Then 
seek  for  reason  why,  and  find  it,  too,  no  less  in  poisoned  bev- 
erage than  in  the  growing  passion  for  wild  speculation. 

In  view  of  the  statements  made  and  facts  alleged,  all  of 
which  are  susceptible  of  proof,  I  ask,  and  ask  with  due  delib- 
eration, might  not  the  philanthropist  better  subserve  the  cause 
of  humanity  by  directing  the  batteries  of  his  denunciation 
from  alcoholic  drinks  per  se  to  the  adulteration  of  them;  by 
advocating  purity  instead  of  prohibition? 

I  have  thus,  Mr.  Speaker,  briefly  adverted  to  abuses  falling 
under  the  general  head  of  meat  and  drink  adulteration.  The 
witnesses  upon  whom  it  is  relied  to  sustain  allegation  will 
appear  in  appendix. 

But,  sir,  the  field  is  too  extensive,  proofs  too  voluminous, 
if  proof  be  needed  where  criminality  stands  confessed,  to 
permit  my  going  into  further  detail  under  this  head  of  my 
subject.  But  I  were  derelict  to  my  subject,  my  constituents, 
and  myself  did  I  close  without  some  allusion  to  like  vicious 
practice  in  the  make-up  of  medicine ;  for,  sir,  human  deprav- 
ity, with  utter  disregard  of  human  life,  has  even  dared  invade 
the  sacred  precincts  of  the  pharmacopoeia,  to  lift  the  tops  of 
the  mystic  jars  on  shelves  arranged,  and  to  infuse  base  sub- 
stance in  their  portentous  contents,  where  oft  the  difference 
of  a  feather's  weight  may  involve  the  mortal  life  of  immor- 
tal men.  Medical  skill  is  impotent  to  act  and  powerless  to 
grapple  with  fell  disease  in  critical  juncture,  because  by 
base  admixture  with  medicinals  it  is  at  loss  to  know  what 
measure  to  prescribe  to  compass  end  desired. 

I  broadly,  boldly  make  the  charge  and  challenge  the  re- 
futal  of  investigation.     A  distinguished  physician  told  me 

22  [337] 


APPENDIX. 

some  years  since,  in  a  neighboring  city,  that  probably  more 
deaths  resulted  directly  and  indirectly  from  that  source  than 
would  from  disease  if  left  to  itself;  and  that  he  made  it  an 
inflexible  rule  never  to  prescribe  medicines  unless  he  was  well 
acquainted  with  the  commercial  and  moral  character  of  the 
druggist  who  was  to  supply  them.  If  such  is  the  state  of  the 
case  in  a  great  city,  what  chance  is  there  of  obtaining  pure 
drugs  in  village  shops  and  country  stores  ? 

Mr.  Speaker,  this  branch  of  my  subject  is  certainly  one 
demanding  most  instant  and  efficacious  remedy  at  our  hands. 
Of  all  men  in  the  world  the  chemist  and  wholesale  druggist 
has  least  occasion  and  excuse  for  tampering  with  his  wares. 
His  profits  are  enormous  when  confined  to  legitimate  chan- 
nels. 

I  do  not  propose,  Mr.  Speaker,  to  take  down  and  look  into 
each  separate  jar  on  the  shelves  of  the  Constitution  amender; 
am  not  sufficiently  deep  in  science  for  that;  but  I  do  intend 
to  look  into  one — and  judge  the  rest  by  inference. 

I  see  before  me  "sulphate  of  quinia."  That  means  in  our 
vernacular  "quinine,"  qui-nine,  or  quin-in,  as  folks  prefer 
to  call  it.  "Jesuit's  bark"  is  the  staple  from  which  it  is  com- 
pounded, and  the  introduction  of  which  to  the  European 
world  entitles  the  Society  of  Loyola  to  the  everlasting  grati- 
tude of  a  sinful  and  suffering  world.  It  is  today,  in  the 
world's  conception,  almost  as  indispensable  an  article  to 
man's  welfare  as  bread  or  meat  or  drink.  I  have  heard  that 
out  on  the  raging  Wabash  or  in  the  Arkansas  bottom,  where 
the  musical  mosquito  delighteth  to  hum  and  to  make  his 
home,  where  the  ague  shaketh  the  sons  of  men,  they  would 
willingly  swap,  pound  for  ounce,  blood  for  Jesuit's  bark  in 
its  etherealized  state,  known  as  quinine. 

Now,  sir,  a  short  time  back,  a  Democratic  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives, recognizing  the  indispensable  necessity  of  this 
light  but  costly  wMte  powder,  erased  it  from  the  list  of  the 
thousand  or  two  other  protected  articles  and  put  it  on  the 
free-list,  and  the  whole  country  arose  and  called  that  Con- 
gress blessed.  Quinine  fell  from  five  or  six  dollars  an  ounce 
to  $1.50  nominally.  But,  sir,  I  opine  the  reduction  in  price 
is  more  fictitious  than  real.     The  quinine  of  to-day  is  not  as 

[338] 


APPENDIX. 

a  rule  the  quinine  of  former  times.  Then  it  was  bitter — 
deucedly  bitter — and  there  was  no  horrid  apprehension  of 
morphia  or  other  deadly  drug  left  in  the  mind  as  afterclap. 
To-day  it  is  far  different,  for  although  not  exactly  a  confec- 
tion or  sweetmeat,  it  has  nevertheless  so  far  laid  aside  its 
acerbity  as  to  suggest  the  thought,  a  la  J\Irs.  Toodles,  what  a 
convenient  thing  a  stomach-pump  is  to  have  in  the  house 
when  one  is  taking  white  powders. 

Now,  sir,  I  ask  why  the  change  in  its  taste,  which  is  so 
perceptible  as  to  be  the  subject  of  general  remark?  Is  it 
that  the  bark  of  the  cinchona  tree  is  losing  its  natural  proper- 
ties, or  is  it  that  less  expensive  barks  and  other  substances 
are  worked  in  with  it  to  increase  bulk  and  weight,  and  thus 
make  up  for  the  falling  off  in  price  ? 

It  would  be  an  interesting  investigation  if  the  question 
were  submitted  to  a  special  committee  of  medical  experts. 
The  cinchona  is  doubtless  to-day  what  it  was  when  Pizarro's 
followers  first  found  it,  and  so  is  red  oak  or  willow. 

Almost  every  leading  government  in  Europe  has  stringent 
laws  against  adulteration.  Of  these  England  has  perhaps 
the  most  perfect  and  complete  system,  and  yet  it  is  only  of 
yesterday's  growth.  Less  than  thirty  years  ago  Dr.  John 
Postgate,  a  country  physician,  seeing  the  abuses  perpetrated 
by  adulterators  of  every  class,  took  the  matter  in  hand  and 
after  years  of  persistent  effort,  beginning  with  only  one  sup- 
porter in  Parliament,  Mr.  Scholefield,  and  with  all  the  large 
manufacturers  and  dealers  in  Great  Britain  hounding  and 
denouncing  him,  succeeded  at  last  in  having  his  ideas  adopted 
as  embodied  in  the  adulteration  acts  of  the  last  decade. 

As  a  public  benefactor  he  will  rank  in  the  history  of  his 
country  as  the  peer  of  Jenner,  Stevenson,  Arkwright,  and 
Davy;  for  food  adulteration  is  virtually  wiped  out  so  far  as 
it  affects  English  palates  and  constitutions.  But  what  com- 
pounders are  forbidden  to  sell  at  home  they  can  readily  mar- 
ket abroad.  For  is  it  not  obvious  that  as  long  as  they  are 
debarred  a  home  market  by  repressory  edicts  they  will  nat- 
urally export  their  base  counterfeits  to  our  own  more  tolerant 
shores  ?  Eliminate  the  foreign  supply  of  poisoned  and  pois- 
onous foods,  and  forbid  the  sale  of  "home  manufactured" 

[339] 


APPENDIX. 

stuffs  of  kindred  class  in  the  District  of  Columbia  and  where- 
ever  else  the  strong  arm  of  the  Federal  Government  will 
reach,  and  a  most  important  step  in  the  work  of  their  eradica- 
tion and  extermination  will  have  been  accomplished. 

Mr.  Speaker,  my  remarks  as  originally  prepared  after  a 
careful  investigation  of  the  subject  contemplated  a  broader 
field  of  inquiry  and  ultimate  repression  than  that  embraced 
in  the  bill  under  consideration.  They  were  intended  to  sus- 
tain my  bill,  or  rather  resolution,  introduced  early  in  the 
session,  authorizing  the  Committee  of  Public  Health  to  in- 
quire into  the  truth  or  falsity  of  the  alleged  abuses  in  this 
regard,  and  to  suggest  what  legislation  should  be  had  for 
their  eradication — a  simple  inquiry  into  damning  allegations, 
with  an  eye  to  a  simple  recommendation  of  remedy.  It  re- 
ceived, I  believe,  the  unanimous  approval  of  that  honorable 
committee,  and  they  and  I  were  alike  at  loss  when,  during 
my  absence  at  the  death-bed  of  a  loved  and  honored  relative, 
it  was  killed  by  a  majority  of  one  on  the  floor  of  this  House. 
My  unavoidable  absence  on  that  occasion  will  be  one  of  the 
regrets  of  my  life. 

In  conclusion  I  now  propose,  Mr.  Speaker,  to  introduce 
the  witnesses  and  to  adduce  the  proofs  upon  which  it  is  in- 
tended to  rely  to  sustain  the  sweeping  allegations  made.  These 
will  appear  in  the  form  of  appendix  in  the  Record.  If  they 
seem  to  any  to  take  more  space  than  is  usually  accorded  in 
that  diurnal  history  of  our  doings  to  any  abstract  question 
let  the  importance  of  the  subject  and  the  ignorance  and  in- 
difference which  prevail  regarding  it  stand  me  in  justifica- 
tion and  excuse.  As  bulky  as  it  will  appear,  it  is  not  a  tithe 
of  what  might  be  adduced  from  these  and  other  high  author- 
ities in  support  of  the  existence  of  the  evils  charged  and  the 
necessity  for  remedial  relief.  Let  us  hearken  to  their  warn- 
ing and  give  that  relief  to  the  fullest  extent  of  our  constitu- 
tional powers.  As  transcendently  important  as  I  believe  it 
to  be,  I  would  not  have  this  House  go  one  step  beyond  to  ac- 
complish the  end  in  view  under  "the  general  welfare"  clause. 


[340] 


APPENDIX. 

APPENDIX. 

I. 

Some  thirty  years  ago  the  London  Lancet,  the  leading  med- 
ical and  surgical  journal  of  the  world,  owing  to  the  repeated 
exposures  of  Dr.  Postgate,  determined  to  employ  at  its  own 
expense  one  of  the  best  analytical  chemists  of  the  age  to  in- 
vestigate the  subject.  For  that  purpose  Dr.  Hassall,  a  man 
of  national  reputation  and  fellow  of  a  dozen  learned  societies, 
was  selected.  He  devoted  several  years  to  the  work  and  col- 
lated his  researches  in  a  large  sized  volume.  His  book  con- 
stituted the  basis  of  subsequent  Parliamentary  investigation, 
which  gives  it  quasi-official  character.  Prom  it  will  be 
found  below  copious  extracts  bearing  upon  a  few  of  the  most 
glaring  abuses: 

During  the   course  of  the   last   six  years   the   author   has   examined 

minutely  and  scrupulously,  microscopically  and  chemically,  over  3,000 

samples  of  the  principal  articles  of  consumption,  as  well  as  many  drugs; 

and  as  the  one  great  result  of  this  somewhat  extended  experience,  he 

affirms  that  some  short  time  back  there  were  few  articles  of  consumption 

the  adulteration  of  which  was  practicable,  and  which,  at  the  same  time, 

could   be   rendered  profitable,  which  were  not  extensively  subjected  to 

adulteration. 

******** 

Dr.  Normandy,  one  of  the  highest  authorities  of  the  age,  concludes  his 
evidence  before  the  parliamentary  committee  with  this  remark: 

"Adulteration  is  a  widespread  evil  which  has  invaded  every  branch  of 

commerce;  everything  which  can  be  mixed  or  adulterated  or  debased  in 

any  way  is  debased." 

******** 

The  subjoined  table  contains  not  only  the  names  of  the  substances  used 
in  adulteration  possessing  more  or  less  injurious  properties,  but  also  the 
names  of  the  articles  in  which  they  have  been  discovered.  It  will  be 
perceived  that  the  number  of  injurious  substances  thus  employed  is 
very  great. 

Injurious  substances  actually  detected  in  adulterated  articles  of  con- 
sumption. 


SUBSTANCES. 

Cocculus  indicus 

Arsenic  of  copper,  emeral  green,  or 
Scheele's  green. 

Sulphate  of  copper  or  blue  vitriol, 
and  acetate  of  copper  or  verdi- 
gris. 

Carbonate  of  copper  or  verditer . . . 


ARTICLES. 

Beer,  rum. 

Colored  sugar  confectionery. 

Pickles,  bottled  fruits,  and  vege- 
tables, preserves,  dried  and  crys- 
talized  fruits. 

Colored  sugar,  confectionery  and 
tea. 


[341] 


APPENDIX. 


Injurious  substances  actually  detected  in  adulterated  articles,  etc. — 
Continued. 


SUBSTANCES. 

The  three  chromates  of  lead. 


Red  oxide  of  lead   

Red  ferruginous  earths,  as  Vene- 
tian red,  bole  Armenian,  red  and 
yellow  ochers,  umber,  etc. 


Carbonate  of  lead 

Plumbago  or  black  lead 

Bisulphuret  of  mercury  or  cinna- 
bar. 

Sulphate  of  iron    

Sulphate  of  copper    

Cayenne    

Gamboge    

Chromates  of  potash   

The  three  false  Brunswick  greens, 
being  mixtures  of  the  chromates 
of  lead  and  indigo,  or  Prussian 
blue. 

Oxychlorides  of  copper  or  true 
Brunswick   greens. 

Orpiment  or  sulphuret  of  arseni- 
cum. 

Ferrocyanide  of  iron  or  Prussian 
blue. 

Antwerp  blue  or  Prussian  blue  and 
chalk. 

Indigo   

Ultramarine    

Artificial  ultramarine 

Hydrated  sulphate  of  lime,  miner- 
al white,  or  plaster  of  Paris. 

Alum    

Sulphuric  acid    

Bronze  powders  or  alloys  of  cop- 
per and  zinc. 


ARTICLES. 


confec- 


Custard    powders,    sugar, 
tionery,  tea,  and  snuff. 

Cayenne,  curry-powder. 

Red  sauces,  as  shrimp,  lobster,  an- 
chovy, and  tomato  sauces,  and  in 
potted  meats  and  fish,  cocoa, 
chicory,  anchovies,  annatto, 
cheese,  tea,  and  snuff,  etc. 

Sugar,  confectionery. 

In  certain  black  and  Li  teas. 

Cayenne,  sugar,  confectionery. 

Redried  tea,  and  in  beer. 

Bread,  rarely;  annatto. 

Gin,  rum,  ginger,  and  mustard. 

Sugar  confectionery. 

Tea  and  snuff. 

Sugar  confectionery. 


Sugar  confectionery. 

Sugar  confectionery. 

Sugar  confectionery. 

Sugar  confectionery. 

Sugar  confectionery. 

Sugar  confectionery. 

Sugar  confectionery. 

Flour,  bread,  sugar  confectionery. 

Bread  and  flour. 
Vinegar,  gin. 
Sugar  confectionery. 


These  disclosures,  be  it  recollected,  were  made  nearly 
thirty  years  ago,  and  when  food-poisoning  was  but  yet  in  its 
infancy.  It  was  long  anterior  to  the  day  when  tallow  and 
suet  supplanted  legitimate  and  normal  butter  by  most  abnor- 
mal and  disgusting  process;  or  glucose,  cane-sugar,  or  scores 
of  other  improvements  had  been  made  upon  the  recognized 
time-honored  processes  of  our  fathers.  In  this,  as  in  other 
things,  the  world  has  moved  since  then. 


L342J 


APPENDIX. 
II. 

Dr.  Hassall  concludes  his  general  introduction  on  the  sub- 
ject of  food  adulteration  in  the  following  pertinent  and  im- 
pressive words : 

Legislation  on  the  subject  is  required — 

First.  For  the  protection  of  the  public  health.  The  evidence  given 
before  the  parliamentary  committee  on  adulteration  proves  that  the 
deadliest  poisons  are  daily  resorted  to  for  purposes  of  adulteration,  to  the 
injury  of  the  health  and  the  destruction  of  the  lives  of  thousands.  There 
is  scarcely  a  poisonous  pigment  known  in  these  islands  which  are  not 
thus  employed. 

Second.  For  the  protection  of  the  revenue.  This  will  be  readily  ac- 
knowledged when  it  is  known  that  nearly  half  the  national  revenue  is 
derived  from  taxes  on  food  and  beverages.  It  has  already  been  shown 
that  not  long  since  adulteration  was  rife,  and  it  still  exists  to  a  large 
extent  in  nearly  all  articles  of  consumption,  both  solid  and  fluid,  and 
including  even  those  under  the  supervision  of  the  excise. 

Third.  In  the  interests  of  the  honest  merchant  and  trader.  The  up- 
right trader  is  placed  in  a  most  trying  and  unfair  position  in  conse- 
quence of  adulteration.  He  is  exposed  to  the  most  ruinous  and  un- 
scrupulous competition;  too  often  he  is  undersold,  and  his  business  thus 
taken  from  him.  It  is  therefore  to  the  interest  of  the  honest  trader 
that  effective  legislation  should  take  place,  and  not  only  is  it  to  his 
interest,  but  we  can  state  that  it  is  his  most  anxious  desire  that  adulter- 
ation should  be  abolished.  In  advocating  the  suppression  of  adultera- 
tion we  are,  therefore,  advocating  the  rights  and  interests  of  all  honor- 
able traders. 

Fourth.  For  the  sake  of  the  consumer.  That  the  consumer  is  exten- 
sively robbed  through  adulteration,  sometimes  of  his  health,  but  always 
of  his  money,  is  unquestionable.  It  is,  however,  the  poor  man,  the 
laborer  and  the  artisan,  who  is  the  most  extensively  defrauded;  for 
occupied  early  and  late  with  his  daily  labor,  often  in  debt  with  those 
with  whom  he  deals,  he  has  no  time  or  power  to  help  himself  in  the 
matter,  and  if  he  had  the  time  he  still  would  require  the  requisite 
knowledge.  The  subject  of  adulteration,  therefore,  while  it  concerns  all 
classes,  is  eminently  a  poor  man's  question;  the  extent  to  which  he  is 
cheated  through  adulteration  is  really  enormous. 

Fifth.  On  the  ground  of  public  morality.  Adulteration  involves  de- 
ception, dishonesty,  fraud,  and  robbery,  and  since  adulteration  is  so 
prevalent,  so  equally  must  these  vices  prevail  to  the  serious  detriment 
of  public  morality  and  to  the  injury  of  the  character  of  the  whole  nation 
for  probity  in  the  eyes  of  the  world.  We  repeat,  then,  that  some  prompt, 
active,  and  efficient  legislative  interference  is  demanded  for  the  sake  of 
public  morality  and  the  character  of  this  country  among  the  nations  of 
the  world. 

Hassall's  adulteration  of  food. 

From  an  examination  of  this  table  it  appears: 

1.  That  of  the  thirty-four  coffees,  thirty-one  were  adulterated. 

2.  That  chicory  was  present  in  thirty-one  of  the  samples. 

3.  Roasted  corn  in  twelve. 

4.  Beans  and  potato  flour,  each  in  one  sample. 

[343] 


APPENDIX. 

5.  That  in  sixteen  cases  the  adulteration  consisted  of  chicory  only. 

6.  That  in  the  remaining  fifteen  samples  the  adulteration  consisted  of 
chicory  and  either  roasted  corn,  beans,  or  potatoes. 

7.  That  in  many  instances  the  quantity  of  coffee  present  was  very 
small;  while  in  others  it  formed  not  more  than  one-fifth,  fourth,  third, 
half,  and  so  on  of  the  whole  article. 

We  are  satisfied  that  the  gross  aggregate  of  the  adulterations  detected 
did  not  amount  to  less  than  one-third  of  the  entire  bulk  of  the  quantity 

purchased. 

******** 

Speaking  of  the  articles  used  in  the  adulteration  of  tea,  the  author 
says : 

"The  principal  of  these  substances  are  Dutch  pink,  rose  pink,  logwood, 
tumeric,  carbonate  of  lime,  carbonate  of  magnesia,  steatite,  soapstone  or 
silicate  of  magnesia,  chromate  of  lead,  the  chromates  of  potash,  ferro- 
cyanide  of  iron,  indigo,  carbonate  of  copper,  acetate  of  copper,  arsenic 
of  copper." 

******** 

Thus  it  has  been  shown  that  exhausted  tea-leaves  are  sometimes  made 
up  with  gum,  etc.,  and  resold  to  the  public  as  genuine  black  tea,  and, 
when  artificially  colored  and  glazed,  even  as  green  tea. 

That  the  substances  employed  in  the  coloring  are  in  many  cases  very 
much  more  objectionable  and  injurious  than  those  used  by  the  Chinese, 

being  sometimes  highly  poisonous. 

******** 

Out  of  seventy-two  samples  of  brown  sugar,  as  procured  at  different 
shops,  subjected  to  examination,  fragments  of  sugar-cane  were  present 
in  all  but  one.  These  were  usually  so  small  that  they  were  visible  only 
by  the  aid  of  the  microscope. 

Sporules  and  filaments  of  fungus  were  present  in  nearly  all  the  sugars. 
The  acari  were  present  in  sixty-nine  of  the  samples,  and  in  many  in  very 
considerable  quantities. 

Grape  sugar  was  detected  in  all  the  sugars. 

Four  of  the  sugars  contained  proportions  of  starch  so  considerable  as 
to  lead  to  the  inference  that  they  were  adulterated. 

Eleven  other  samples  of  brown  sugar,  as  imported  from  the  East  and 
West  Indies,  furnished  nearly  similar  results.  Two  only  could  be  re- 
garded as  pure  and  fit  for  human  consumption. 

******** 

Concerning  Bread. — We  have  already  referred,  to  some  extent,  to  the 
adulteration  of  bread  with  water.  Bread  naturally  contains  a  large 
quantity  of  water,  estimated  at  sixty-six  parts  in  every  one  hundred  and 
fifty  of  bread,  sixteen  of  these  only  being  natural  to  the  flour,  but  is 
frequently  made  to  contain  greater  amounts.  One  principal  means  by 
which  this  is  effected  is  by  the  addition  of  rice  or  rice-flour  to  bread; 
this,  swelling  up,  absorbs  much  more  water  than  wheat  flour.  Potatoes 
used  in  any  quantity  probably  have,  to  some  extent,  the  same  effect.  In 
the  introduction  of  rice,  then,  into  bread  there  is  a  double  evil:  first,  a 
substance  is  put  into  the  bread  which  does  not  possess  nearly  so  much 
nourishment  as  wheat  flour ;  and,  second,  by  its  means  a  larger  quantity 
of  another  substance  is  absorbed  by  the  bread,  and  which  has  no  nour- 
ishing properties  whatever.  While  wheat  flour  seldom  contains  less  and 
often  much  more  than  12  per  cent  of  gluten,  rice  has  only  about  7  per 
cent  of  that  nutritious  substance,  and  potatoes  are  equally  deficient  in 
gluten. 

[344] 


APPENDIX. 

The  public,  then,  in  judging  of  the  quality  of  bread  by  its  color,  by  its 
whiteness,  commits  a  most  serious  mistake;  there  is  little  or  no  connec- 
tion between  color  and  quality ;  in  fact,  very  generally,  the  whitest  breads 
are  the  most  adulterated.  The  public,  therefore,  should  lose  no  time  in 
correcting  its  judgment  on  this  point. 

Again,  the  mistaken  taste  of  the  public  for  very  white  bread,  which, 
be  it  known,  cannot  be  obtained  even  from  the  finest  and  best  flour  except 
by  the  use  of  alum  or  some  other  substance  similar  in  its  operation, 
tends  to  the  serious  injury  of  the  bread  in  another  way. 

After  proving  that  alum  enters  injuriously  in  almost  all 
bought  bread,  he  adds : 

Further,  alum  is  very  apt  to  disorder  the  stomach  and  to  occasion 
acidity  and  dyspepsia. 

Vinegar. — The  principal  adulterations  of  vinegar  are  with  water,  sul- 
phuric acid,  and  burnt  sugar,  and  sometimes  with  acid  substances,  as 
chillies  and  grains  of  paradise,  and  also  with  pyroligneous  or  acetic 
acids. 

The  water  is  added  to  increase  the  bulk,  sulphuric  acid  and  acid  sub- 
stances to  make  it  pungent,  and  burnt  sugar  to  restore  the  color  lost  by 
dilution. 

Vinegar  is  not  unfrequently  contaminated  with  arsenic,  this  being 
introduced  through  the  sulphuric  acid  used  in  its  adulteration. 

A  mixture  of  muriatic  acid  and  soda  has  been  used  in  bread,  and  I 
have  seen  muriatic  acid  containing  a  very  fearful  quantity  of  arsenic. 

The  following  evidence  in  regard  to  the  use  of  corrosive  sublimate  was 
given  by  Mr.  Gray  before  the  parliamentary  committee: 

"Corrosive  sublimate  has  been  used  for  years  and  years  in  some 
houses,  and  not  a  cask  has  gone  out  without  a  certain  proportion  of 
corrosive  sublimate." 

"Chairman.  Do  you  believe  that  corrosive  sublimate  was  mixed  with 
the  vinegar  in  injurious  proportions?" 

"I  do;  it  was  done  to  give  strength  to  the  vinegar.  When  the  D.  W. 
and  0.  V.  have  been  used  the  corrosive  sublimate  is  put  into  it  to  give 
it  a  tartness  again  in  the  mouth." 

Chairman.  "Are  these  technical  expressions  in  the  trade — 0.  V.  for 
oil  of  vitriol,  and  D.  W.  for  distilled  water?" 

"Just  so.     Corrosive   sublimate   is  called  'the  doctor.'  " 

White  or  distilled  vinegar,  as  it  is  called,  is  usually  made  with  water 

and  acetic  acid,  what  is  sold  is  rarely  distilled  at  all. 

******* 

That  nineteen  out  of  twenty  of  the  vinegars  submitted  to  analysis, 
poor  as  they  were,  yet  owed  a  portion  of  their  acidity  to  sulphuric  acid 
the  amount  of  which  varied  in  the  different  samples  from  38  to  252  in 
the  1,000  grains,  the  largest  quantity  of  this  acid  being  detected  in  the 
vinegars  in  which  the  red  cabbages  were  pickled.  That  in  the  whole  of 
the  sixteen  different  pickles  analyzed  for  copper  that  poisonous  metal 
was  discovered  in  various  amounts. 

On  the  adulterations  of  cayenne. — Of  twenty-eight  samples  of  cayenne 
submitted  to  microscopic  and  chemical  examination  no  less  than  twenty- 
four  were  adulterated,  and  four  only  were  genuine.  Twenty-two  con- 
tained mineral  coloring  matter. 

In  thirteen  cases  this  consisted  of  red  lead,  which  was  present  in  very 

[345] 


APPENDIX. 

considerable  quantities,  while  in  the  remaining  seven  samples  it  was 
some  red  ferruginous  earth,  Venetian  red,  or  red  ocher.  Vermillion  or 
sulpheret  of  mercury  was  present  in  one  of  this  cayennes. 

Six  of  the  cayennes  consisted  of  a  mixture  of  ground  rice,  turmeric, 
and  cayenne  colored,  with  either  red  lead,  vermillion,  red,  or  ocher. 

Six  of  the  cayennes  contained  large  quantities  of  salt,  sometimes  alone, 
but  mostly  combined  with  rice  and  the  red  earths  or  red  lead. 

One  of  the  samples  was  adulterated  with  a  large  quantity  of  the  husk 
of  white  mustard  seed. 

Lastly.  Two  were  adulterated  with  rice,  and  were  colored  in  addi- 
tion, the  one  with  red  lead,  and  the  other  with  a  red  ferruginous  earth. 
The  object  of  the  use  of  red  lead  and  other  red  coloring  matters  is  two 
fold:  first,  to  conceal  other  adulterations,  and  second,  to  preserve  the 
color  of  the  cayenne,  as  when  exposed  to  the  light  for  any  time  it 
usually  loses  part  of  the  bright  red  color  which  it  at  first  possesses,  and 
therefore  it  becomes  deteriorated  in  the  eyes  of  the  purchaser.  The  red 
lead,  etc.,  added  does  not  of  course  preserve  the  color  of  the  cayenne,  but 
simply  supplies  the  place  of  that  which  it  loses  in  consequence  of 
exposure. 

Salt  is  employed  for  the  same  purpose.  This  substance  has  a  remark- 
able effect  in  bringing  out  the  color  of  the  cayenne.  It  is,  however,  also 
used  to  increase  its  weight. 

The  adulteration  of  cayenne  with  such  substances  as  red  lead  and 
mercury  is  doubtless  highly  prejudicial  to  health.  It  has  been  stated 
that  colic  and  parlysis  have  both  been  produced  by  the  use  of  cayenne 
containing  red  lead. 

The  salts  of  lead  and  mercury  are  characterized  by  the  circumstance 
that  they  are  apt  to  accumulate  in  the  system,  and  finally  to  produce 
symptoms  of  a  very  serious  nature.  Thus  no  matter  how  small  the  quan- 
tity of  mercury  or  lead  introduced  each  day,  the  system  is  sure  in  the 
end,  although  it  be  slowly  and  insidiously,  to  be  brought  under  the  in- 
fluence of  these  poisons,  and  to  become  seriously  affected.  The  quantity 
of  red  lead  introduced  into  the  system  in  adulterated  cayenne  is,  how- 
ever, by  no  means  inconsiderable. 

III. 

[From  Chambers's  Encyclopcedia.] 

ADULTERATION. 

The  adulteration  of  food  of  almost  every  kind  is  unfortunately  so 
common  a  custom  that  our  limited  space  will  merely  allow  of  our  no- 
ticing a  few  of  the  leading  points  in  regard  to  it. 

Wheat  flour  is  not  infrequently  adulterated  with  one  or  more  of  the 
following  substances:  flour  of  beans,  Indian  corn,  rye,  or  rice,  potato- 
starch,  alum,  chalk,  carbonate  of  magnesia,  bone-dust,  plaster-of-paris, 
sand,  clay,  etc.  The  organic  matters — the  inferior  flours  and  starch — do 
little  or  no  serious  harm.  Most  of  the  inorganic  matters  are  positively 
injurious,  and  of  these,  alum  (one  of  the  commonest  adulterations)  is 
the  worst.  The  beneficial  action  of  wheat-flour  on  the  system  is  in  part 
due  to  the  large  quantity  of  soluble  phosphates  which  it  contains. 
When  alum  is  added  these  phosphates  uniting  with  the  alumina  of  the 
alum  and  forming  an  insoluble  compound,  the  beneficial  effect  of  the 
soluble  phosphates  is  thus  lost. 

Coffee,  in  its  powdered  form,  is  not  merely  largely  adulterated  with 
chicory,  but  additionally  with  roasted  grain,  roots,  acorns,  saw-dust,  ex- 

[346] 


APPENDIX. 

hausted  tan  (termed  croats),  coffina  (the  seeds  of  a  Turkish  plant), 
burnt  sugar,  and  (worst  of  all)  baked  horses'  and  bullocks'  liver.  In 
the  Quarterly  Journal  of  the  Chemical  Society  for  April,  1856,  there  is 
an  excellent  report  by  Messrs.  Graham,  Stenhouse,  and  Campbell  on  the 
mode  of  detecting  vegetable  substances  mixed  with  coffee.  Even  whole 
roasted  coffee  is  not  safe  from  adulteration,  a  patent  having  been  ac- 
tually taken  out  to  mold  chicory  into  the  form  of  coffee-berries. 

Cocoa  and  chocolate  are  adulterated  with  flour,  potato-starch,  sugar, 
clarified  mutton-suet,  and  various  mineral  substances,  such  as  chalk, 
plaster-of-paris,  red  earth,  red  ocher,  and  venetial  earth,  the  last  three 
being  used  as  coloring  matter. 

Vinegar  is  adulterated  with  water,  sulphuric  acid,  and  sometimes  with 
chillies,  grains  of  paradise,  and  pyroligneous  acid.  It  appears  from  evi- 
dence taken  before  the  parliamentary  committee  on  adulterations  that 
arsenic  and  corrosive  sublimate  are  no  uncommon  ingredients  in  vinegar. 
In  conection  with  vinegar  we  may  place  pickles.  Dr.  Hassall  analyzed 
sixteen  different  pickles  for  copper,  and  discovered  that  poisonous  metal, 
more  or  less,  abundantly  in  all  of  them ;  '"in  three,  in  a  very  considerable 
quantity;  in  one,  in  highly  deleterious  amount;  and  in  two,  in  poisonous 
amount." 

Preserved  fruits  and  vegetables,  especially  gooseberries,  rhubarb,  green 
gages,  and  olives,  are  often  also  contaminated  largely  with  copper.  In 
these  cases  the  copper,  if  in  considerable  quantity,  may  be  easily  detected 
by  placing  a  piece  of  polished  iron  or  steel  in  the  suspected  liquid  for 
twenty-four  hours,  to  which  we  previously  add  a  few  drops  of  nitric  acid. 
The  copper  will  be  deposited  on  the  iron.  Or  ammonia  may  be  added 
to  the  fluid  in  which  the  pickles  or  fruit  were  lying,  when,  if  copper  is 
present,  a  blue  tint  is  developed.  We  should  be  suspicious  of  all  pickles, 
olives,  preserved  gooseberries,  etc.,  with  a  particularly  bright-green  tint. 

Milk  is  usually  believed  to  be  liable  to  numerous  adulterations,  such 
as  flour,  chalk,  mashed  brains,  etc.  It  appears,  however,  from  Dr.  Has- 
sall's  researches  on  London  milk,  that  as  a  general  rule,  water  is  the 
only  adulteration.  The  results  of  the  examinations  of  twenty-six  sam- 
ples were  that  twelve  were  genuine,  and  that  fourteen  were  adulterated, 
the  adulteration  consisting  principally  in  the  addition  of  water,  the  per- 
centages of  which  varied  from  10  to  50  per  cent,  or  one-half  water.  If 
space  permitted  we  might  extend  the  list  of  alimentary  substances  liable 
to  adulteration  to  a  much  greater  length. 

Beer  is  adulterated  in  many  ways.  Burned  sugar  (caramel)  is  added 
to  give  color;  cocculus,  indicus  to  supply  an  intoxicating  agent  which 
will  give  an  appearance  of  strength  to  the  beer ;  quassia,  to  impart  bitter- 
ness in  place  of  hops ;  grains  of  paradise  and  cayenne  pepper,  to  commun- 
icate pungency;  coriander  and  caraway  seeds,  to  yield  flavor;  liquorice, 
treacle,  and  honey  to  supply  color  and  consistence.  To  stale  beer  there 
is  sometimes  added  green  vitriol  (sulphate  of  iron)  or  alum  and  common 
salt,  which  when  agitated  with  the  beer  communicate  a  fine  cauli- 
flower head. 

IV. 

[Report  of  select  parliamentary  committee,  1855-1856,  upon  inquiry  into 
the  adulteration  of  food,  from  the  Westminster  Review,  volume  91, 
page  195.] 

In  the  process  of  their  investigations  they  examined  some  sixty  wit- 
nesses, who  gave  answers  to  near  eight  thousand  questions,  all  of  them 

[347] 


APPENDIX. 

tending  more  or  less  distinctly  and  directly  to  prove  that  the  practice  of 
adulteration  was  very  prevalent  and  most  injurious  in  its  effects  upon 
the  health,  morality,  and  prosperity  of  the  country.  Upward  of  thirty 
of  the  witnesses  were  physicans,  surgeons,  analytical  chemists,  and  drug- 
gists, and  the  remainder  were  gentlemen  who  occupied  responsible  posi- 
tions in  the  fiscal  and  sanitary  departments  of  government,  of  persons 
acquainted  with  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  the  larger  proportion  of 

such  commodities  as  are  in  most  general  use. 

******* 

Though  the  witnesses  differed  both  as  to  the  extent  to  which  adultera- 
tion is  carried  on  and  as  to  its  nature  and  effects,  your  committee  can- 
not avoid  the  conclusion  that  adulteration  widely  prevails,  though  under 
circumstances  of  very  various  character.  As  regards  foreign  products, 
some  arrive  in  this  country  in  an  adulterated  condition,  while  others  are 
adulterated  by  the  English  dealer.  Other  commodities  again,  the  pro- 
duce of  this  country,  are  shown  to  be  in  an  adulterated  state  when  pass- 
ing into  the  hands  of  the  dealer,  while  others  undergo  adulteration  by 
the  dealers  themselves. 

"Not  only  is  the  public  health  thus  exposed  to  danger  and  pecuniary 
fraud  committed  on  the  whole  community,  but  the  public  morality  is 
tainted  and  the  high  commercial  character  of  this  country  seriously  low- 
ered both  at  home  and  in  the  eyes  of  foreign  countries.  Though  very 
many  refuse  under  every  temptation  to  falsify  the  quality  of  their  wares, 
there  are  unfortunately  large  numbers,  who,  though  reluctantly  prac- 
ticing deception,  yield  to  the  pernicious  contagion  of  example  or  to  the 
hard  pressure  of  competition  forced  upon  them  by  their  less  scrupulous 
neighbors." 

And  then  they  proceed  to  give  the  following  summary: 
"Without  entering  into  voluminous  details  of  the  evidence  taken,  your 
committee  would  enumerate  the  many  articles  which  have  been  proved 
to  be  more  or  less  commonly  adulterated.  These  are:  Arrowroot,  adul- 
terated with  potato  and  other  starches;  bread,  with  potatoes,  plaster  of 
Paris,  alum,  and  sulphate  of  copper;  bottled  fruits  and  vegetables,  with 
certain  salts  of  copper;  coffee,  with  chicory,  roasted  wheat,  beans,  and 
mangel-wurzel;  chicory,  with  roasted  wheat,  carrots,  sawdust  and  Vene- 
tian red;  cocoa,  with  arrowroot,  potato-flour,  sugar,  chicory,  and  some 
ferriginous  red  earth;  cayenne  and  ground  rice,  mustard,  husk,  etc.; 
alcohol,  with  red  lead;  lard,  with  potato-flour,  mutton  suet,  carbonate  of 
soda,  and  caustic  lime;  mustard,  with  wheat  flour  and  turmeric;  mar- 
malade, with  apples  and  turnips;  porter  and  stout  (though  sent  out  in 
a  pure  state  from  the  brewers ) ,  with  water,  sugar,  treacle,  salt,  alum, 
cocculus  indicus,  grains  of  paradise,  mix  vomica,  and  sulphuric  acid; 
pickles  and  preserves,  with  salts  of  copper;  snuff,  with  various  chro- 
matics, red  lead,  lime,  and  powdered  glass;  tobacco,  with  water,  sugar, 
rhubarb,  and  treacle;  vinegar,  with  water,  sugar,  and  sulphuric  acid; 
jalap,  with  powdered  wood;  opium,  with  poppy  capsules,  wheat-flour, 
powdered  wood,  and  sand;  scammony,  with  wheat-flour,  chalk,  resin,  and 
sand ;  confectionery,  with  plaster  of  Paris  and  other  similar  ingredients, 
colored  with  various  pigments  of  a  highly  poisonous  nature;  and  acid 
drops  purporting  to  be  compounded  of  jargonelle,  pear,  ribston,  pippin, 
lemon,  etc.,  with  essential  oils  containing  prussic  acid  and  other  dan- 
gerous ingredients." 

[348] 


APPENDIX. 


V. 


[Extracts  from  English  statutes  bearing  on  the  subject,   11th  August, 

1875.] 

Whereas,  it  is  desirable  that  the  acts  now  in  force  relative  to  the 
adulteration  of  food  should  be  repealed  and  that  the  law  requiring  the 
sale  of  food  and  drugs  in  a  pure  and  genuine  state  should  be  amended: 

Be  it  therefore  enacted,  etc.     *     *     * 

Sec.  2.  The  term  "food"  shall  include  every  article  used  for  food  or 
drink  by  man,  other  than  drugs  and  water.  The  term  "drugs"  shall  in- 
clude medicine  for  internal  or  external  use. 

Sec.  3.  No  person  shall  mix,  color,  stain,  or  powder,  or  order  or  permit 
any  other  person  to  mix,  color,  stain,  or  powder,  any  article  of  food  with 
any  ingredient  or  material  so  as  to  render  the  article  injurious  to 
health,  with  intent  that  the  same  may  be  sold  in  that  state;  and  no 
person  shall  sell  any  such  article  so  mixed,  colored,  stained,  or  pow- 
dered, under  a  penalty  in  each  case  not  exceeding  £50  for  the  first 
offense;  every  offense  after  a  conviction  for  a  first  offense  shall  be  a  mis- 
demeanor for  which  the  person  shall,  on  conviction,  be  imprisoned  for  a 
period  not  exceeding  six  months,  with  hard  labor. 

Sec.  4.  No  person  shall,  except  for  the  purpose  of  compounding,  as 
hereinafter  described,  mix,  color,  stain,  or  powder  any  drug  with  any 
ingredient  or  material  so  as  to  affect  injuriously  the  quality  of  such 
drug  with  intent  that  the  same  may  be  sold  in  that  State,  and  no  person 
shall  sell  any  such  drug  so  mixed,  colored,  strained,  or  powdered  under 
the  same  penalty  in  each  case,  respectively,  as  in  the  preceding  section 

for  a  first  and  subsequent  offense. 

******* 

Sec.  6.  No  person  shall  sell  to  the  purchaser  any  article  of  food  or 
any  drug  which  is  not  of  the  nature,  substance,  and  quality  of  the  article 
demanded  by  such  purchaser,  under  a  penalty  not  exceeding   £20,  etc. 

Sec.  7.  No  person  shall  sell  any  compounded  article  of  food  or  com- 
pounded drug,  which  is  not  composed  of  ingredients  in  accordance  with 
the  demands  of  the  purchaser,  under  a  penalty  not  exceeding  £20. 
(Glen's  Law  of  Public  Health,  38  and  39  Victoria,  chapter  63.) 

You  will  thus  see,  Mr.  Speaker,  the  estimation  in  which 
the  offense  is  held  by  our  cousins  across  the  water.  It  is  meet 
that  the  two  great  Anglo-Saxon  nationalities  should  profit, 
each  by  the  teaching  of  the  other.  May  not  the  younger  profit 
by  the  lesson  here  laid  down  by  the  elder  ? 

I  have  letters,  Mr.  Speaker,  from  some  of  the  leading 
grocers  and  druggists  of  the  country,  offering  to  come  on  and 
testify  before  a  properly  accredited  committee  at  their  own 
expense,  to  give,  cause,  and  adduce  proof  why  like  legislation 
is  imperatively  demanded  on  Capitol  Hill.  Let  them  be 
heard  for  our  sake,  if  not  for  theirs. 

[349] 


